H3I 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

•0 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


fitoepard  Book  Company 


HEROINES  OF 


MORMONDOM," 


THE  SECOND    BOOK    OF   THE 


WOMEN'S  LIVES  SERIES. 


SALT   LAKE  CITY,  UTAH. 
PUBLISHED  AT  THE  JUVENILE  INSTRUCTOR  OFFICE. 

1884. 


143 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


PREFACE. 


IT  affords  us  much  pleasure  to  be  able  to  present 
a  second  book  of  the  "NOBLE  WOMEN'S  LIVES 
SERIES"  to  the  public.  Jt  will,  we  feel  confident, 
prove  no  less  interesting  than  its  predecessor,  and 
the  lessons  conveyed  by  the  articles  herein  con- 
tained will  doubtless  be  as  instructive  to  its  readers 
as  any  ever  given. 

The  remarkable  events  here  recorded  are  worthy 
of  perusal  and  remembrance  by  all  the  youth 
among  this  people,  as  they  will  tend  to  strengthen 
faith  in  and  love  for  the  gospel  for  which  noble 
men  and  women  have  suffered  so  much.  The  names, 
too,  of  such  heroines  as  these,  the  sketches  of 
whose  lives  we  herewith  give,  should  be  held  in 
honorable  remembrance  among  this  people,  for  no 
age  or  nation  can  present  us  with  more  illustrious 
examples  of  female  faith,  heroism  and  devotion. 

We  trust  that  this  little  work  may  find  its  way 
in  the  homes  of  all  the  Saints  and  prove  a  blessing 
to  all  who  scan  its  pages.  This  is  the  earnest 
desire  of 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


CONTENTS. 


A  NOBLE  WOMAN'S  EXPERIENCE. 

Page. 

Chapter  I.,  -     9 

Chapter  II.,  16 

Chapter  III.,  27 

A  REMARKABLE  LIFE. 

Page. 

Chapter  I.,  37 

Chapter  II.,  43 

Chapter  III..  47 

Chapter  IV.,  .                                            60 

Chapter  V.,  70 

Chapter  VI.,  82 

A  HEROINE  OF  HAUN'S  MILL  MASSACRE. 
Chapter!.,          -        -  Page  86 


A    NOBLE    WOMAN'S    EXPERI- 
ENCE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


HYRUM  SMITH,  the  Patriarch,  married  Jerusha 
Barden,  November  2,  1826.  They  had  six  chil- 
dren, viz:  Lovina,  Mary,  John,  Hyrum,  Jerusha 
and  Sarah.  Mary  died  when  very  young,  and  her 
mother  died  soon  after  the  birth  of  her  daughter, 
Sarah.  Hyrum,  the  second  son,  died  in  Nauvoo, 
in  1842,  aged  eight  years.  The  Patriarch  married 
his  second  wife,  Mary  Fielding,  in  the  year  1837, 
she  entering  upon  the  important  duty  of  step- 
mother to  five  children,  which  task  she  performed, 
under  the  most  trying  and  afflictive  circumstances, 
with  unwavering  fidelity.  She  had  two  children, 
Joseph  and  Martha.  Thus,  you  see,  Hyrum  Smith, 
the  Patriarch  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-day  Saints,  was  really  a  polygamist  many 
years  before  the  revelation  on  celestial  marriage 
was  written,  though,  perhaps,  about  the  time  it  was 
given  to  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith;  but  not  exactly 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  generally  used, 
for  both  his  wives  were  not  living  together  on  the 


10  HEROINES  OF 


earth;  still  they  were  both  alive,  for  the  spirit  nev- 
er dies,  and  they  were  both  his  wives — the  mothers 
of  his  children.  Marriage  is  ordained  of  God,  and 
when  performed  by  the  authority  of  His  Priest- 
hood, is  an  ordinance  of  the  everlasting  gospel, 
and  is  not,  therefore,  merely  a  legal  contract,  but 
pertains  to  time  and  all  eternity  to  come,  therefore 
it  is  written  in  the  Bible,  "What  God  hath  joined 
together  let  no  man  put  asunder." 

There  are  a  great  many  men  who  feel  very  bit- 
ter against  the  Latter-day  Saints,  and  especially 
against  the  doctrine  of  plural  marriage,  who  have 
married  one  or  more  wives  after  the  death  of  their 
first,  that,  had  their  marriages  been  solemnized  in 
the  manner  God  has  prescribed  and  by  His  author- 
ity, they  themselves  would  be  polygamists,  for  they, 
as  we,  firmly  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  professing  to  be  Christians  and  looking  for- 
ward to  the  time  when  they  will  meet,  in  the 
spirit  world,  their  wives  and  the  loved  ones  that 
are  dead.  We  can  imagine  the  awkward  situation 
of  a  man,  not  believing  in  polygamy,  meeting  two 
or  more  wives,  with  their  children,  in  the  spirit 
world,  each  of  them  claiming  him  as  husband  and 
father.  "But,"  says  one,  "how  will  it  be  with  a 
woman  who  marries  another  husband  after  the 
death  of  her  first?"  She  will  be  the  wife  of  the 
one  to  whom  she  was  married  for  time  and  eter- 
nity. But  if  God  did  not  "join  them  together," 
and  they  were  only  married  by  mutual  consent 
until  death  parted  them,  their  contract,  or  part- 
nership ends  with  death,  and  there  remains  but 


"MORMONDOM."  11 

one  way  for  those  who  died  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  gospel  to  be  united  together  for  eternity. 
That  is,  for  their  living  relatives  or  friends  to 
attend  to  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  for  them. 
"For,  in  the  resurrection,  they  neither  marry  nor 
are  given  in  marriage;"  therefore  marriage  ordin- 
ances must  be  attended  to  here  in  the  flesh.  Hyrum 
Smith,  however,  was  a  polygamist  before  his  death, 
he  having  had  several  women  sealed  to  him  by 
his  brother,  Joseph,  some  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing. 

At  the  death  of  the  Patriarch,  June  27th,  1844, 
the  care  of  the  family  fell  upon  his  widow,  Mary 
Smith.  Besides  the  children  there  were  two  old 
ladies  named  respectively,  Hannah  Grinnels,  who 
had  been  in  the  family  many  years,  and  Margaret 
Brysen.  There  was  also  a  younger  one,  named 
Jane  Wilson,  who  was  troubled  with  fits  and  other- 
wise afflicted,  and  was,  therefore,  very  dependent, 
and  an  old  man,  named  George  Mills,  who  had 
also  been  in  the  family  eleven  years,  and  was  al- 
most entirely  blind  and  very  crabbed.  These  and 
others,  some  of  whom  had  been  taken  care  of  by 
the  Patriarch  out  of  charity,  were  members  of  the 
family  and  remained  with  them  until  after  they 
arrived  in  the  valley.  "Old  George,"  as  he  was 
sometimes  called,  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  British 
army,  had  never  learned  to  read  or  write,  and 
often  acted  upon  impulse  more  .than  from  the 
promptings  of  reason,  which  made  it  difficult, 
sometimes,  to  get  along  with  him;  but  because  he 
had  been  in  the  family  so  long — through  the 


12  HEROINES  Of1 

troubles  of  Missouri  and  Illinois — and  had  lost 
his  eye-sight  from  the  effects  of  brain  fever  and 
inflammation,  caused  by  taking  cold  while  in  the 
pineries  getting  out  timbers  for  the  temple  at  Nau- 
voo,  Widow  Smith  bore  patiently  all  his  peculiar- 
ities up  to  the  time  of  her  death.  Besides  those  I 
have  mentioned,  Mercy  R.  Thompson,  sister  to 
Widow  Smith,  and  her  daughter,  and  Elder  James 
Lawson  were  also  members  of  the  family. 

On  or  about  the  8th  of  September,  1846,  the  fam- 
ily, with  others,  were  driven  out  of  Nauvoo  by  the 
threats  of  the  mob,  and  encamped  on  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  just  below  Montrose.  There 
they  were  compelled  to  remain  two  or  three  days, 
in  view  of  their  comfortable  homes  just  across  the 
river,  unable  to  travel  for  the  want  of  teams,  while 
the  men  were  preparing  to  defend  the  city  against 
the  attack  of  the  mob.  They  were  thus  under  the 
necessity  of  witnessing  the  commencement  of  the 
memorable  "Battle  of  Nauvoo;"  but,  before  the 
cannonading  ceased,  they  succeeded  in  moving  out 
a  few  miles,  away  from  the  dreadful  sound  of  it, 
where  they  remained  until  they  obtained,  by  the 
change  of  property  at  a  great  sacrifice,  teams  and 
an  outfit  for  the  journey  through  Iowa  to  the  Win- 
ter Quarters  of  the  Saints,  now  Florence,  Nebraska. 
Arriving  at  that  point  late  in  the  Fall,  they  were 
obliged  to  turn  out  their  work  animals  to  pick  their 
living  through  the  Winter,  during  which  some  of 
their  cattle,  and  eleven  out  of  their  thirteen  horses 
died,  leaving  them  very  destitute  of  teams  in  the 
Spring. 


*MORMONDOM."  13 


Iri  the  Fall  of  1847,  Widow  Smith  and  her 
brother,  Joseph  Fielding,  made  a  trip  into  Mis- 
souri, with  two  teams,  to  purchase  provisions  for 
the  family.  Joseph,  her  son,  accompanied  them 
as  teamster;  he  was  then  nine  years  of  age.  The 
team  he  drove  consisted  of  two  yokes  of  oxen,  one 
yoke  being  young  and  only  partially  broke,  which, 
with  the  fact  that  the  roads  were  very  bad  with 
the  Fall  rains,  full  of  stumps  in  places,  sometimes 
hilly,  and  that  he  drove  to  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
and  back,  a  distance  of  about  three  hundred  miles, 
without  meeting  with  one  serious  accident,  proves 
that  he  must  have  been  a  fair  teamster  for  a  boy 
at  his  age. 

At  St.  Joseph  they  purchased  com  and  other 
necessaries,  getting  their  corn  ground  at  Savannah, 
on  their  return  journey.  Whpat  flour  was  a  lux- 
ury beyond  their  reach,  and  one  seldom  enjoyed 
by  many  of  the  Latter-day  Saints  in  those  days. 
On  their  journey  homeward  they  camped  one 
evening  at  the  edge  of  a  small  prairie,  or  open  flat, 
surrounded  by  woods,  where  a  large  herd  of  cattle, 
on  their  way  to  market,  was  being  pastured  for  the 
night,  and  turned  out  their  teams,  as  usual,  to 
graze.  In  the  morning  their  best  yoke  of  cattle 
was  missing,  at  which  they  were  greatly  surprised, 
this  being  the  first  time  their  cattle  had  separated. 
Brother  Fielding  and  Joseph  at  once  started  in 
•  search,  over  the  prairie,  through  the  tall,  wet  grass, 
in  the  woods,  far  and  near,  until  they  were  almost 
exhausted  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  and  saturated 
to  the  skin;  but  their  search  was  vain.  Joseph 


14  HEROINES  OF 

returned  first  to  the  wagons,  towards  mid-day,  and 
found  his  mother  engaged  in  prayer.  Brother 
Fielding  arrived  soon  after,  and  they  sat  down  to 
breakfast,  which  had  long  been  waiting.  - 

"Now,"  said  Widow  Smith,  "while  you  are  eat- 
ing I  will  go  down  towards  the  river  and  see  if  I 
can  find  the  cattle." 

Brother  Fielding  remarked,  "I  think  it  is  useless 
for  you  to  start  out  to  hunt  the  cattle;  I  have  in- 
quired of  all  the  herdsmen  and  at  every  house  for 
miles,  and  I  believe  they  have  been  driven  off." 
Joseph  was  evidently  of  the  same  opinion,  still  he 
had  more  faith  in  his  mother  finding  them,  if  they 
could  be  found,  than  he  had  either  in  his  uncle  or 
himself.  He  knew  that  she  had  been  praying  to 
the  Lord  for  assistance,  and  he  felt  almost  sure 
that  the  Lord  would  hear  her  prayers.  Doubtless 
he  would  have  felt  quite  sure  had  he  not  been  so 
disheartened  by  the  apparently  thorough  but  fruit- 
less search  of  the  morning.  He  felt,  however  to 
follow  her  example:  he  prayed  that  his  mother 
might  be  guided  to  the  cattle,  and  exercised  all  the 
faith  he  could  muster,  striving  hard  to  feel  confi- 
dent that  she  would  be  successful.  As  she  was  fol- 
lowing the  little  stream,  directly  in  the  course  she 
had  taken  on  leaving  the  wagons,  one  of  the 
drovers  rode  up  on  the.  opposite  side  and  said, 
"Madam,  I  saw  your  cattle  this  morning  over  in 
those  woods,"  pointing  almost  directly  opposite  to 
the  course  she  was  taking.  She  paid  no  attention 
to  him,  but  passed  right  on.  He  repeated  his  in- 
formation; still  she  did  not  heed  him.  He  then 


'•MOEMONDOM:'  15 


rode  off  hurriedly,  and,  in  a  few  moments,  with 
his  companions,  began  to  gather  up  their  cattle  and 
start  them  on  the  road  towards  St.  Joseph.  She 
had  not  gone  far  when  she  came  upon  a  small 
ravine  filled  with  tall  willows  and  brush;  but  not 
tall  enough  to  be  seen  above  the  high  grass  of  the 
prairie.  In  a  dense  cluster  of  these  willows  she 
found  the  oxen  so  entangled  in  the  brush,  and 
fastened  by  means  of  withes,  that  it  was  with  great 
difficulty  that  she  extricated  them  from  their  en- 
tanglement. This  was  evidently  the  work  of  these 
honest  (?)  drovers,  who  so  hurriedly  disappeared 
— seeing  they  could  not  turn  her  from  her  course 
— perhaps  in  search  of  estray  honesty,  which  it  is 
to  be  hoped  they  found. 

This  circumstance  made  an  indelible  impression 
upon  the  mind  of  the  lad,  Joseph.  He  had  wit- 
nessed many  evidences  of  God's  mercy,  in  answer 
to  prayer,  before;  but  none  that  seemed  to  strike 
him  so  forcibly  as  this.  Young  as  he  was,  he  real- 
ized his  mother's  anxiety  to  emigrate  with  her 
family  to  the  valley  in  the  Spring,  and  their  de- 
pendence upon  their  teams  to  perform  that  jour- 
ney, which,  to  him,  seemed  a  formidable,  if  not  an 
impossible,  undertaking  in  their  impoverished  cir- 
cumstances. It  was  this  that  made  him  so  dis- 
heartened and  sorrowful  when  he  feared  that  the 
cattle  would  never  be  found.  Besides,  it  seemed 
to  him  that  he  could  not  bear  to  see  such  a  loss 
and  disappointment  come  upon  his  mother,  whose 
life  he  had  known,  from  his  earliest  recollection, 
had  been  a  life  of  toil  and  struggle  for  the  main- 


16  HEROINES  OF 

tenance  and  welfare  of  her  family.  His  joy,  there- 
fore, a's  he  looked  through  tears  of  gratitude  to  God 
for  His  kind  mercy  extended  to  the  "widow  and 
the  fatherless"  may  be  imagined,  as  he  ran  to  meet 
his  mother  driving  the  oxen  towards  the  wagons. 


CHAPTER  II. 

JOSEPH  was  herd-boy.  One  bright  morning 
sometime  in  the  Fall  of  1847,  in  company  with  his 
herd-boy  companions,  whose  names  were  Alden 
Burdick,  (almost  a  young  man,  and  very  sober  and 
steady),  Thomas  Burdick,  cousin  to  Alden,  about 
Joseph's  size,  but  somewhat  older,  and  Isaac  Block- 
some,  younger,  he  started  out  with  his  cattle  as 
usual  for  the  herd  grounds,  some  two  miles  from 
Winter  Quarters.  They  had  two  horses,  both 
belonging  to  the  Burdicks,  and  a  pet  jack  belonging 
to  Joseph.  Their  herd  that  day  comprised  not 
only  the  cows  and  young  stock,  but  the  work  oxen? 
which  for  some  cause  were  unemployed. 

Alden  proposed  to  take  a  trip  on  foot  through 
the  hazel,  and  gather  nuts  for  the  party,  and  by 
the  "lower  road"  meet  the  boys  at  the  spring  on 
the  herd  ground,  while  they  drove  the  herd  by  the 
"upper  road"  which  was  free  from  brush.  This 
arrangement  just  suited  Joseph  and  Thomas,  for 
they  were  very  fond  of  a  little  sport,  and  his 
absence  would  afford  them  full  scope ;  while  his 
presence  served  as  an  extinguisher  upon  the  exu- 
berance of  their  mirth.  Joseph  rode  Alden's  bay 


"MORMONDOM."  17 

mare,  a  very  fine  animal ;  Thomas,  his  father's 
black  pony,  and  Isaac  the  pet  Jack.  This  Jack 
had  deformed  or  crooked  fore-legs,  and  was  very 
knowing  in  his  way ;  so  "Ike"  and  the  Jack  were 
the  subjects  chosen  by  Joseph  and  Thomas  for 
their  sport.  They  would  tickle  "Jackie,"  and 
plague  him,  he  would  kick  up,  stick  his  head  down, 
hump  up  his  back  and  run,  while  Isaac  struggled 
in  vain  to  guide  or  hold  him  by  the  bridle  reins, 
for  like  the  rest  of  his  tribe  he  was  very  headstrong 
when  abused.  No  harm  or  even  offense  to  Isaac 
was  intended  ;  but  they  carried  their  fun  too  far ; 
Isaac  was  offended,  and  returned  home  on  foot, 
turning  loose  the  Jack  with  the  bridle  on.  We 
will  not  try  to  excuse  Joseph  and  Thomas  in  this 
rudeness  to  Isaac,  for  although  they  were  well- 
meaning  boys,  it  was  no  doubt  very  wrong  to  carry 
their  frolics  so  far  as  to  offend  or  hurt  the  feelings 
of  their  playmate,  and  especially  as  he  was 
younger  than  they ;  but  in  justice  to  them  it  is  fair 
to  say  they  were  heartily  sorry  when  they  found 
they  had  given  such  sore  offense. 

When  Joseph  and  Thomas  arrived  at  the  spring 
they  set  down  their  dinner  pails  by  it,  mounted 
their  horses  again,  and  began  to  amuse  themselves 
by  running  short  races,  jumping  ditches  and  riding 
about.  They  would  not  have  done  this  had  Alden 
been  there.  They  had  not  even  done  such  a  thing 
before,  although  the  same  opportunity  had  not 
been  wanting ;  but  for  some  reason — ever  fond  of 
frolic  and  mischief — they  were  more  than  usually 
so  this  morning.  It  is  said  that  not  even  a  "spar- 


18  HEROINES  OF 


row  falls  to  the  ground"  without  God's  notice,  is  it 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  He  saw  these  boys  ? 
And  as  He  overrules  the  actions  of  even  the  wicked, 
and  causes  their  "wrath  to  praise  Him;'7  would  it 
be  inconsistent  to  suppose  that  the  Lord  overruled 
the  frolics  of  these  mischievous,  but  not  wicked 
boys  on  this  occasion  for  good,  perhaps  for  their 
deliverance  and  salvation  ?  We  shall  see. 

While  they  were  riding  about  and  the  cattle 
were  feeding  down  the  little  spring  creek  toward  a 
point  of  the  hill  that  jutted  out  into  the  little 
valley  about  half  a  mile  distant,  the  "leaders" 
being  about  half  way  to  it,  a  gang  of  Indians  on 
horseback,  painted,  their  hair  daubed  with  white 
clay,  stripped  to  the  skin,  suddenly  appeared  from 
behind  the  hill,  whooping  and  charging  at  full 
speed  toward  them.  Now,  had  these  boys  turned 
out  their  horses,  as  under  other  circumstances 
they  should,  and  no  doubt  would,  have  done,  they 
and  the  cattle  would  have  been  an  easy  prey  to  the 
Indians,  the  boys  themselves  being  completely  at 
their  mercy,  such  mercy,  as  might  be  expected 
from  a  thieving  band  of  savages.  In  an  instant, 
Thomas  put  his  pony  under  full  run  for  home, 
crying  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "Indians,  Indians!" 
At  the  same  instant  Joseph  set  out  at  full  speed  for 
the  head  of  the  herd,  with  a  view  to  save  them  if 
possible. 

He  only  could  tell  the  multitude  of  his  thoughts 
in  that  single  moment.  Boy  as  he  was,  he  made  a 
desperate  resolve.  His  mother,  his  brother  and 
sisters  and  their  dependence  upon  their  cattle  for 


"MORMONDOM."  19 


transportation  to  the  Valley  in  the  Spring,  occupied 
his  thoughts  and  nerved  him  to  meet  the  Indians 
half-way,  and  risk  his  life  to  save  the  cattle  from 
being  driven  off  by  them.  At  the  moment  that  he 
reached  the  foremost  of  the  herd,  the  Indians, 
with  terrific  yells  reached  the  same  spot,  which 
frightened  the  cattle  so,  that  with  the  almost 
superhuman  effort  of  the  little  boy  to  head  them 
in  the  right  direction,  and  at  the  same  time  to  elude 
the  grasp  of  the  Indians,  in  an  instant  they  were 
all  011  the  stampede  towards  home.  Here  the 
Indians  divided,  the  foremost  passing  by  Joseph 
in  hot  pursuit  of  Thomas,  who  by  this  time  had 
reached  the  brow  of  the  hill  on  the  upper  road 
leading  to  town,  but  he  was  on  foot.  He  had  left 
his  pony,  knowing  the  Indians  could  outrun — and 
perhaps  would  overtake  him.  And  thinking  they 
would  be  satisfied  with  only  the  horse,  and  by 
leaving  that  he  could  make  good  his  escape. 

Joseph's  horse  was  fleeter  on  foot,  besides,  he 
was  determined  to  sell  what  he  had  to,  at  the 
dearest  possible  rate.  The  rest  of  the  Indians  of 
the  first  gang,  about  half  a  dozen,  endeavored  to 
capture  him;  but  in  a  miraculous  manner  he 
eluded  them  contriving  to  keep  the  cattle  headed 
in  the  direction  of  the  lower  road  towards  home, 
until  he  reached  the  head  of  the  spring.  Here  the 
Indians  who  pursued  Thomas — excepting  the  one 
in  possession  of  Thomas'  horse,  which  he  had  cap- 
tured and  was  leading  away  towards  the  point — 
met  him,  turning  his  horse  around  the  spring  and 
down  the  course  of  the  stream,  the  whole  gang  of 


20  HEROINES  OF 

Indians  in  full  chase.  He  could  outrun  them,  and 
had  he  now,  freed  from  the  herd,  been  in  the  direc- 
tion of  home  he  could  have  made  his  escape;  but 
as  he  reached  a  point  opposite  the  hill  from  whence 
the  Indians  came,  he  was  met  by  another  gang 
who  had  crossed  the  stream  for  that  purpose;  again 
turning  his  horse.  Making  a  circuit,  he  once 
more  got  started  towards  home.  His  faithful 
animal  began  to  lose  breath  and  flag.  He  could 
still,  however,  keep  out  of  the  reach  of  his  pursuers; 
but  now  the  hindmost  in  the  down  race  began  to 
file  in  before  him,  as  he  had  turned  about,  by 
forming  a  platoon  and  veering  to  the  right  or  left 
in  front,  as  he  endeavored  to  pass,  they  obstructed 
his  course,  so  that  those  behind  overtook  him  just 
as  he  once  more  reached  the  spring.  Riding  up 
on  either  side,  one  Indian  fiercely  took  him  by  the 
right  arm,  another  by  the  left  leg,  while  a  third 
was  prepared  to  close  in  and  secure  his  horse. 
Having  forced  his  reins  from  his  grip,  they  raised 
him  from  the  saddle,  slackened  speed  till  his  horse 
ran  from  under  him,  then  dashed  him  to  the  ground 
among  their  horses'  feet  while  running  at  great 
speed.  He  was  considerably  stunned  by  the  fall, 
but  fortunately  escaped  further  injury,  notwith- 
standing, perhaps  a  dozen  horses  passed  over  him. 
As  he  rose  to  his  feet,  several  men  were  in  sight 
on  the  top  of  the  hill,  with  pitchforks  in  their 
hands  at  the  sight  of  whom  the  Indians  fled  in  the 
direction  they  had  come.  These  men  had  been 
alarmed  by  Thomas'  cry  of  Indians,  while  on  their 
way  to  the  hay  fields,  and  reached  the  place  in 


"MORMONDOM."  21 

time  to  see  Joseph's  horse  captured  and  another 
incident  which  was  rather  amusing.  The  Jack, 
which  did  not  stampede  with  the  cattle,  had  strayed 
off  alone  to  ward  the  point  of  the  hill,  still  wearing 
his  bridle.  An  old  Indian  with  some  corn  in  a 
buckskin  sack  was  trying  to  catch  him;  but 
"Jackie"  did  not  fancy  Mr.  Indian,  although  not 
afraid  of  him,  and  so  would  wheel  from  him  as  he 
would  attempt  to  take  hold  of  the  bridle.  As  the 
men  appeared,  the  Indian  made  a  desperate  lunge 
to  catch  the  Jack,  but  was  kicked  over,  and  his 
corn  spilt  on  the  ground.  The  Indian  jumped  up 
and  took  to  his  heels,  and  "Jackie"  deliberately 
ate  up  his  corn.  By  this  time  the  cattle  were 
scattered  off  in  the  brush  lining  the  lower  road, 
still  heading  towards  town.  The  men  with  the 
pitchforks  soon  disappeared  from  the  hill,  continu- 
ing on  to  the  hay-fields,  and  Joseph  found  himself 
alone,  affording  him  a  good  opportunity  to  reflect 
on  his  escape  and  situation.  The  truth  is,  his  own 
thoughts  made  him  more  afraid  than  did  the 
Indians.  What  if  they  should  return  to  complete 
their  task,  which  he  had  been  instrumental  in  so 
signally  defeating?  They  would  evidently  show 
him  no  mercy.  They  had  tried  to  trample  him  to 
death  with  their  horses,  and  what  could  he  do  on 
foot  and  alone?  It  would  take  him  a  long  time  to 
gather  up  the  cattle,  from  among  the  brush.  The 
Indians  might  return  any  moment,  there  was 
nothing  to  prevent  them  doing  so.  These  were 
his  thoughts;  he  concluded  therefore  that  time  was 
precious,  and  that  he  would  follow  the  example, 


22  HEROINES  OF 

now,  of  Thomas,  and  "make  tracks"  for  home. 
When  he  arrived  the  people  had  gathered  in  the 
old  bowery,  and  were  busy  organizing  two  com- 
panies, one  of  foot  and  the  other  of  horsemen,  to 
pursue  the  Indians.  All  was  excitement,  his 
mother  and  the  family  were  almost  distracted, 
supposing  he  had  been  killed  or  captured  by  the 
Indians.  Thomas  had  told  the  whole  story  so  far 
as  he  knew  it,  the  supposition  was  therefore  inev- 
itable ;  judge,  therefore,  of  the  happy  surprise  of  his 
mother  and  sisters  on  seeing  him,  not  only  alive, 
but  uninjured.  Their  tears  of  joy  were  even  more 
copious  than  those  of  grief  a  moment  before. 

But  Joseph's  sorrow  had  not  yet  began.  He  and 
Thomas  returned  with  the  company  of  armed  men 
on  foot  to  hunt  for  the  cattle,  while  the  horsemen 
were  to  pursue  the  Indians,  if  possible,  to  recover 
the  horses.  When  they  arrived  again  at  the  spring 
no  sign  of  the  cattle  could  be  seen;  even  the  din- 
ner pails  had  been  taken  away.  On  looking 
around,  the  saddle  blanket  from  the  horse  Joseph 
rode  was  found  near  the  spring.  Was  this  evidence 
that  the  Indians  had  returned  as  Joseph  had  sus- 
pected? And  had  they,  after  all,  succeeded  in 
driving  off  the  cattle?  These  were  the  questions 
which  arose.  All  that  day  did  they  hunt,  but  in 
vain,  to  find  any  further  trace  of  them ;  and  as 
they  finally  gave  up  the  search  and  bent  their 
weary  steps  towards  home,  all  hope  of  success 
seemingly  fled.  Joseph  could  no  longer  suppress 
the  heavy  weight  of  grief  that  filled  his  heart,  and 
he  gave  vent  to  it  in  bitter  tears,  and  wished  he 
had  been  a  man. 


"MORMONDOM."  23 

It  is  said,  "calms  succeed  storms,"  "and  one  ex- 
treme follows  another/'  etc.  Certainly  joy  followed 
closely  on  the  heels  of  grief  more  than  once  this 
day,  for  when  Joseph  and  Thomas  reached  home, 
to  their  surprise  and  unspeakable  joy,  they  found 
all  their  cattle  safely  corraled  in  their  yards  where 
they  had  been  all  the  afternoon.  Alden,  it  seems, 
reached  the  herd  ground  just  after  Joseph  had  left. 
He  found  the  cattle  straying  off  in  the  wrong 
direction  unherded,  and  he  could  find  no  trace  of  the 
boys  or  horses,  although  he  discovered  the  dinner 
pails  at  the  spring  as  usual.  When  he  had 
thoroughly  satisfied  himself  by  observations  that 
all  was  not  right,  and  perhaps  something  very 
serious  was  the  matter,  he  came  to  the  conclusion 
to  take  the  dinner  pails,  gather  up  the  cattle  and 
go  home,  which  he  did  by  the  lower  road,  reaching 
home  some  time  after  the  company  had  left  by 
the  upper  road  in  search  of  them.  He  of  course 
learned  the  particulars  of  the  whole  affair,  and 
must  have  felt  thankful  that  he  had  escaped.  A 
messenger  was  sent  to  notify  the  company  of  the 
safety  of  the  cattle,  but  for  some  reason  he  did  not 
overtake  them. 

In  the  Spring  of  1847,  George  Mills  was  fitted 
out  with  a  team  and  went  in  the  company  of  Pres- 
ident Young  as  one  of  the  Pioneers  to  the  Valley; 
and  soon,  a  portion  of  the  family  in  the  care  of 
Brother  James  Lawson,  emigrated  from  "Winter 
Quarters,"  arriving  in  the  Valley  that  Fall. 

In  the  Spring  of  1848,  a  tremendous  effort  was 
made  by  the  Saints  to  emigrate  to  the  Valley  on 


24  HEROINES  OF 

a  grand  scale.  No  one  was  more  anxious  than 
Widow  Smith;  but  to  accomplish  it  seemed  an 
impossibility.  She  still  had  a  large  and  compara- 
tively helpless  family.  Her  two  sons,  John  and 
Joseph,  mere  boys,  being  her  only  support;  the 
men  folks,  as  they  were  called,  Brothers  J.  Lawsoii 
and  G.  Mills  being  in  the  Valley  with  the  teams 
they  had  taken.  Without  teams  sufficient  to  draw 
the  number  of  wagons  necessary  to  haul  pro  visions 
and  outfit  for  the  family,  and  without  means  to 
purchase,  or  friends  who  were  in  circumstances  to 
assist,  she  determined  to  make  the  attempt,  and 
trust  in  the  Lord  for  the  issue.  Accordingly  every 
nerve  was  strained,  and  every  available  object 
was  brought  into  requisition.  " Jackie"  was  traded 
off  for  provisions;  cows  and  calves  were  yoked 
up,  two  wagons  lashed  together,  and  team  barely 
sufficient  to  draw  one  was  hitched  on  to  them,  and 
in  this  manner  they  rolled  out  from  Winter  Quar- 
ters some  time  in  May.  After  a  series  of  the  most 
amusing  aud  trying  circumstances,  such  as  stick- 
ing in  the  mud,  doubling  teams  up  all  the  little 
hills  and  crashing  at  ungovernable  speed  down 
the  opposite  sides,  breaking  wagon  tongues  and 
reaches,  upsetting,  and  vainly  endeavoring  to 
control  wild  steers,  heifers  and  unbroken  cows, 
they  finally  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Elk  Horn, 
where  the  companies  were  being  organized  for  the 
plains. 

Here,  Widow  Smith  reported  herself  to  President 
Kimball,  as  having  "started  for  the  Valley."  Mean- 
time, she  had  left  no  stone  unturned  or  problem 


"MORMONDOM."  25 

untried,  which  promised  assistance  in  effecting 
the  necessary  of  preparations  for  the  journey.  She 
had  done  to  her  utmost,  and  still  the  way  looked 
dark  and  impossible. 

President  Kimball  consigned  her  to  Captain 
's  fifty.  The  captain  was  present;  said  he, 

"Widow  Smith,  how  many  wagons  have  you?" 

"Seven." 

"How  many  yokes  of  oxen  have  you?" 

"Four,"  and  so  many  cows  and  calves. 

"Well,"  says  the  captain,  "Widow  Smith,  it  is 
folly  for  you  to  start  in  this  manner;  you  never 
can  make  the  journey,  and  if  you  try  it,  you  will  be 
a  burden  upon  the  company  the  whole  way.  My 
advice  to  you  is,  go  back  to  Winter  Quarters  and 
wait  till  you  can  get  help." 

This  speech  aroused  the  indignation  of  Joseph, 
who  stood  by  and  heard  it;  he  thought  it  was  poor 
consolation  to  his  mother  who  was  struggling  so 
hard,  even  against  hope  as  it  were,  for  her  deliver- 
ance ;  and  if  he  had  been  a  little  older  it  is  pos- 
sible that  he  would  have  said  some  very  harsh 
things  to  the  captain;  but  as  it  was,  he  busied 
himself  with  his  thoughts  and  bit  his  lips. 

Widow  Smith  calmly  replied,  "Father " 

(he  was  an  aged  man,)  "I  will  beat  you  to  the 
Valley  and  will  ask  no  help  from  you  either!" 

This  seemed  to  nettle  the  old  gentleman,  for  he 
was  high  metal.  It  is  possible  that  he  never  forgot 
this  prediction,  and  that  it  influenced  his  conduct 
towards  her  more  or  less  from  that  time  forth  as 
long  as  he  lived,  and  especially  during  the  journey. 


26  HEROINES  OF 

While  the  companies  were  lying  at  Elk  Horn, 
Widow  Smith  sent  back  to  Winter  Quarters,  and 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  succeeded  in  buying  on 
credit,  and  hiring  for  the  journey,  several  yokes 
of  oxen  from  brethren  who  were  not  able  to  emi- 
grate that  year,  (among  these  brethren  one  Brother 
Rogers  was  ever  gratefully  remembered  by  the 
family).  When  the  companies  were  ready  to  start, 
Widow  Smith  and  her  family  were  somewhat  bet- 
ter prepared  for  the  journey  and  rolled  out  with 
lighter  hearts  and  better  prospects  than  favored 
their  egress  from  Winter  Quarters.  But  Joseph 
often  wished  that  his  mother  had  been  consigned 
to  some  other  company,  for  although  everything 
seemed  to  move  along  pleasantly,  his  ears  were 
frequently  saluted  with  expressions  which  seemed 
to  be  prompted  by  feelings  of  disappointment  and 
regret  at  his  mother's  prosperity  and  success — 
expressions  which,  it  seemed  to  him,  were  made 
expressly  for  his  ear.  To  this,  however,  he  paid  as 
little  regard  as  it  was  possible  for  a  boy  of  his 
temperament  to  do.  One  cause  for  annoyance  was 
the  fact  that  his  mother  would  not  permit  him  to 
stand  guard  at  nights  the  same  as  a  man  or  his 
older  brother  John,  when  the  Captain  required  it. 
She  was  willing  for  him  to  herd  in  the  day  time 
and  do  his  duty  in  everything  that  seemed  to  her 
in  reason  could  be  required  of  him;  but,  as  he 
was  only  ten  years  of  age,  she  did  not  consider  him 
old  enough  to  do  guard  duty  at  nights  to  protect 
the  camp  from  Indians,  stampedes,  etc.,  therefore, 
when  the  captain  required  him  to  stand  guard, 


27 


Widow  Smith  objected.  He  was,  therefore, 
frequently  sneered  at  as  being  "petted  by  his 
mother,"  which  was  a  sore  trial  to  him. 


CHAPTER  III 

ONE  day  the  company  overtook  President  Kim* 
ball's  company,  which  was  traveling  ahead  of  them; 
this  was  somewhere  near  the  north  fork  of  the  Platte 
River.  Jane  Wilson,  who  has  been  mentioned  as 
being  a  member  of  the  family  of  Widow  Smith,  and 
as  being  troubled  with  fits,  etc.,  and  withal  very  fond 
of  snuff,  started  ahead  to  overtake  her  mother,  who 
was  in  the  family  of  Bishop  N.  K.  Whitney,  in 
President  KimbalPs  company,  supposing  both  com- 
panies would  camp  together,  and  she  could  easily 
return  to  her  own  camp  in  the  evening.  But,  early 
in  the  afternoon,  our  captain  ordered  a  halt,  and 
camped  for  that  night  and  the  next  day.  This 
move,  unfortunately,  compelled  poor  Jane  to  con- 
tinue on  with  her  mother  in  the  preceding  com- 
pany. 

Towards  evening  the  captain  took  a  position  in 
the  center  of  the  corral  formed  by  the  wagons, 
and  called  the  company  together,  and  then  cried 
out : 

"Is  all  right  in  the  camp?  Is  all  right  in  the 
camp?" 

Not  supposing  for  a  moment  that  anything  was 
wrong,  no  one  replied.  He  repeated  the  question 


HEROINES  OF 


again  and  again,  each  time  increasing  his  vehem- 
ence, until  some  began  to  feel  alarmed.  Old 
"Uncle  Tommie"  Harrington  replied  in  good  Eng- 
lish style,  "Nout's  the  matter  wi  me;  riout's  the 
matter  wi  me;"  and  one  after  another  replied, 
"Nothing  is  the  matter  with  me,"  until  it  came  to 
Widow  Smith,  at  which,  in  a  towering  rage,  the 
captain  exclaimed,  "All's  right  in  the  camp,  and  a 
poor  woman  lost  !  " 

Widow  Smith  replied,  "She  is  not  lost;  she  is 
with  her  mother,  and  as  safe  as  I  am." 

At  which  the  captain  lost  all  control  of  his  tem- 
per, and  fairly  screamed  out,  "I  rebuke  you,  Widow 
Smith,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord!"  pouring  forth  a 
tirade  of  abuse  upon  her.  Nothing  would  pacify 
him  till  she  proposed  to  send  her  son  John  ahead 
to  find  Jane.  It  was  almost  dark,  and  he  would 
doubtless  have  to  travel  until  nearly  midnight 
before  he  would  overtake  the  company;  but  he 
started,  alone  and  unarmed,  in  an  unknown  region, 
an  Indian  country,  infested  by  hordes  of  hungry 
wolves,  ravenous  for  the  dead  cattle  strewn  here 
and  there  along  the  road,  which  drew  them  in  such 
numbers  that  their  howlings  awakened  the  echoes 
of  the  night,  making  it  hideous  and  disturbing  the 
slumbers  of  the  camps. 

That  night  was  spent  by  Widow  Smith  in  prayer 
and  anguish  for  the  safety  of  her  son;  but  the  next 
day  John  returned  all  safe,  and  reported  that  he 
had  found  Jane  all  right  with  her  mother.  Widow 
Smith's  fears  for  his  safety,  although  perhaps  un- 
necessary, were  not  groundless,  as  his  account  of 


29 


his  night's  trip  proved.  The  wolves  growled  and 
glared  at  him  as  he  passed  along,  not  caring  even 
to  get  out  of  the  road  for  him;  their  eyes  gleaming 
like  balls  of  fire  through  the  darkness  on  every 
hand;  but  they  did  not  molest  him;  still,  the  task 
was  one  that  would  have  made  a  timid  person 
shudder  and  shrink  from  its  performance. 

Another  circumstance  occurred,  while  camped 
at  this  place,  which  had  a  wonderful  influence, 

some  time  afterwards,  upon  Captain 's  mind. 

There  was  a  party  of  the  brethren  started  out  on 
a  hunting  expedition  for  the  day.  A  boy,  that 
was  driving  team  for  Widow  Smith,  but  little 
larger  than  Joseph,  although  several  years  his 
senior,  accompanied  them,  riding  with  the  captain 
in  his  carriage,  which  they  took  along  to  carry  their 
game  in.  This  boy  (he  is  now  a  man,  and  no  doubt 
a  good  Latter-day  Saint)  was  a  very  great  favorite 
of  the  captain's;  and  was  often  cited  by  him  as  a 
worthy  example  for  Joseph,  as  he  stood  guard,  and 
was  very  obliging  and  obedient  to  him.  During  the 
day  the  captain  left  him  in  charge  of  his  carriage 
and  team,  while  he  went  some  distance  away  in 

search  of  game,  charging  W not  to  leave  the 

spot  until  he  returned.      Soon  after  the  captain 

got  out  of  sight,  W drove  off  in  pursuit  of 

some  of  the  brethren  in  another  direction,  and 
when  he  overtook  them,  strange  to  say,  he  told  a 
most  foolish  and  flimsy  story,  which  aroused  their 
suspicion.  They  charged  him  with  falsehood,  but 
he  unwisely  stuck  to  his  story.  It  was  this:  "Cap- 
tain   had  sent  him  to  tell  them  to  drive  the 


HEROINES  OF 


game  down  to  a  certain  point,  so  that  he  (the  cap- 
tain) might  have  a  shot  as  well  as  they."  Having 
done  this  he  started  back  to  his  post,  expecting  to 
get  there,  of  course,  before  the  captain  returned. 
But  unfortunately  for  his  good  reputation  with 
the  captain,  he  was  too  late.  The  captain  had 
returned,  but  the  carriage  was  gone,  not  knowing 
the  reason  he  doubtless  became  alarmed,  as  he  im- 
mediately started  in  search,  instead  of  waiting  to 
see  if  it  would  return.  He  missed  connection,  and 
was  subjected  to  a  tedious  tramp  and  great  anxiety, 
until  he  fell  in  with  those  brethren,  who  related 
the  strange  interview  they  had  had  with  W— 
and  the  mystery  was  explained.  Returning  again, 

there  he  found  the  carriage  and  W all  right, 

looking  innocent  and  dutiful,  little  suspecting 
that  the  captain  knew  all,  and  the  storm  that  was 
about  to  burst  upon  his  devoted  head.  But  like  a 

thunder-clap  the  storm  came.       At  first  W 

affected  bewilderment,  putting  on  an  air  of  injured 
innocence,  but  soon  gave  way  before  the  avalanche  of 
wrath  hurled  upon  him.  Poor  fellow!  he  had 
destroyed  the  captain's  confidence  in  him,  and 
would  he  ever  regain  it?  The  reader  can  readily 
imagine  this  would  be  a  difficult  matter.  Sometime 
after  this,  the  captain  went  out  from  camp  with  his 
carriage  to  gather  saleratus,  and  on  the  way  overtook 
Joseph  on  foot.  To  Joseph's  utter  astonishment,  the 
captain  stopped  and  invited  him  to  ride.  There  was 
another  brother  in  the  carriage  with  him.  As  they 
went  along  the  captain  told  this  story,  and  con- 
cluded by  saying,  "Now,  Joseph,  since  W— —  has 


"MORMONDOM"  31 

betrayed  my  confidence  so  that  I  dare  not  trust 
him  any  more,  you  shall  take  his  place.  I  don't 
believe  you  will  deceive  me."  Joseph,  in  the  best 
manner  he  possibly  could,  declined  the  honor  prof- 
fered to  him. 

Passing  over  from  the  Platte  to  the  Sweetwater, 
the  cattle  suffered  extremely  from  the  heat,  the 
drought,  and  the  scarcity  of  feed,  being  compelled 
to  browse  on  dry  rabbit  brush,  sage  brush,  weeds 
and  such  feed  as  they  could  find,  all  of  which  had 
been  well  picked  over  by  the  preceding  com- 
panies. Captain  's  company  being  one  of 

the  last,  still  keeping  along,  frequently  in  sight  of, 
and  sometimes  camping  with  President  KimbalPs 
company  which  was  very  large.  One  day  as  they 
were  moving  along  slowly  through  the  hot  sand 
and  dust,  the  sun  pouring  down  with  excessive 
heat,  toward  noon  one  of  Widow  Smith's  best  oxen 
laid  down  in  the  yoke,  rolled  over  on  his  side, 
and  stiffened  out  his  legs  spasmodically,  evidently 
in  the  throes  of  death.  The  unanimous  opinion 
was  that  he  was  poisoned.  All  the  hindmost  teams 
of  course  stopped,  the  people  coming  forward  to 
know  what  was  the  matter.  In  a  short  time  the 
captain,  who  was  in  advance  of  the  company,  per- 
ceiving that  something  was  wrong,  came  to  the 
spot. 

Perhaps  no  one  supposed  for  a  moment  that  the 
ox  would  ever  recover.  The  captain's  first  words 
on  seeing  him,  were : 

"He  is  dead,  there  is  no  use  working  with  him; 
we'll  have  to  fix  up  some  way  to  take  the  Widow 


32  HEROINES  OF 

along,  I  told  her  she  would  be  a  burden  upon  the 
company." 

Meantime  Widow  Smith  had  been  searching  for 
a  bottle  of  consecrated  oil  in  one  of  the  wagons, 
and  now  came  forward  with  it,  and  asked  her 
brother,  Joseph  Fielding,  and  -the  other  brethren, 
to  administer  to  the  ox,  thinking  the  Lord  would 
raise  him  up.  They  did  so,  pouring  a  portion  of 
the  oil  on  the  top  of  his  head,  between  and  back 
of  the  horns,  and  all  laid  hands  upon  him,  and 
one  prayed,  administering  the  ordinance  as  they 
would  have  done  to  a  human  being  that  was  sick. 
Can  you  guess  the  result?  In  a  moment  he  gath- 
ered his  legs  under  him,  and  at  the  first  word  arose 
to  his  feet,  and  traveled  right  off  as  well  as  ever. 
He  was  not  even  unyoked  from  his  mate.  The 
captain,  it  may  well  be  supposed,  now  heartily 
regretted  his  hasty  conclusions  and  unhappy 
expressions.  They  had  not  gone  very  far  when 
another  and  exactly  similar  circumstance  occurred. 
This  time  also  it  was  one  of  her  best  oxen,  the  loss 
of  either  would  have  effectually  crippled  one  team, 
as  they  had  no  cattle  to  spare.  But  the  Lord  mer- 
cifully heard  their  prayers,  and  recognized  the 
holy  ordinance  of  anointing  and  prayer,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Priesthood  when  applied  in  behalf 
of  even  a  poor  dumb  brute!  Sincere  gratitude 
from  more  than  one  heart  in  that  family,  went  up 
unto  the  Lord  that  day  for  His  visible  interposi- 
tion in  .their  behalf.  At  or  near  a  place  called 
Rattlesnake  Bend,  on  the  Sweetwater,  one  of 
Widow  Smith's  oxen  died  of  sheer  old  age,  and 


"MORMOtfDOM"  33 

consequent  poverty.  He  had  been  comparatively 
useless  for  some  time,  merely  carrying  his  end  of 
the  yoke  without  being  of  any  further  service 
in  the  team;  he  was  therefore  no  great  loss. 

At  the  last  crossing  of  the  Sweetwater,  Widow 
Smith  was  met  by  James  Lawson,  with  a  span  of 
horses  and  a  wagon,  from  the  Valley.  This  en- 
abled her  to  Unload  one  wagon,  and  send  it,  with 
the  best  team,  back  to  Winter  Quarters  to  assist 
another  family  the  next  season.  Elder  Joel  Terry 
returned  with  the  team.  At  this  place  the  captain 
was  very  unfortunate;  several  of  his  best  cattle  and 
a  valuable  mule  laid  down  and  died,  supposed  to 
have  been  caused  by  eating  poisonous  weeds.  There 
was  no  one  in  the  camp  who  did  not  feel  a  lively 
sympathy  for  the  Captain,  he  took  it  to  heart  very 
much.  He  was  under  the  necessity  of  obtaining 
help,  and  Widow  Smith  was  the  first  to  offer  it  to 
him,  but  he  refused  to  accept  of  it  from  her  hands. 
Joseph  sympathized  with  him,  and  would  gladly 
have  done  anything  in  his  power  to  aid  him;  but 
here  again,  it  is  painful  to  say,  he  repulsed  his 
sympathy  and  chilled  his  heart  and  feelings  more 
and  more  by  insinuating  to  others,  in  his  presence, 
that  Widow  Smith  had  poisoned  his  cattle !  Saying, 
"Why  should  my  cattle,  and  nobody's  else,  die  in 
this  manner?  There  is  more  than  a  chance  about 
this.  It  was  well  planned,"  etc.,  expressly  for  his 
ear.  This  last  thrust  was  the  severing  blow. 
Joseph  resolved,  some  day,  to  demand  satisfaction 
not  only  for  this,  but  for  every  other  indignity  he 
had  heaped  upon  his  mother. 


34  HEROINES  OF 


On  the  22nd  of  September,  1848,  Captain—  -'s 
fifty  crossed  over  the  "Big  Mountain,"  when  they 
had  the  first  glimpse  of  Salt  Lake  Valley.  It  was 
a  beautiful  day.  Fleecy  clouds  hung  round  over 
the  summits  of  the  highest  mountains,  casting 
their  shadows  down  the  valley  beneath,  hightening, 
by  contrast,  the  golden  hue  of  the  sun's  rays  which 
fell  through  the  openings  upon  the  dry  bunch- 
grass  and  sage-bush  plains,  gilding  them  with 
fairy  brightness,  and  making  the  arid  desert  to 
seem  like  an  enchanted  spot.  Every  heart  rejoiced 
and  with  lingering  fondness,  wistfully  gazed  from 
the  summit  of  the  mountain  upon  the  western  side 
of  the  valley  revealed  to  view — the  goal  of  their 
wearisome  journey.  The  ascent  Iromthe  east  was 
gradual,  but  long  and  fatiguing  for  the  teams;  it 
was  in  the  afternoon,  therefore,  when  they  reached 
the  top.  The  descent  to  the  west  was  far  more 
precipitous  and  abrupt.  They  were  obliged  to 
rough-lock  the  hind  wheels  of  the  wagons,  and,  as 
they  were  not  needed,  the  forward  cattle  were 
turned  loose  to  be  driven  to  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain or  to  camp,  the  "wheelers"  only  being  retained 
on  the  wagons.  Desirous  of  shortening  the  next 
day's  journey  as  much  as  possible — as  that  was  to 
bring  them  into  the  Valley — they  drove  on  till  a 
late  hour  in  the  night,  over  very  rough  roads 
much  of  the  way,  and  skirted  with  oak  brush  and 
groves  of  trees.  They  finally  camped  near  the 
eastern  foot  of  the  "Little  Mountain."  During 
this  night's  drive  several  of  Widow  Smith's  cows — 
that  had  been  turned  loose  from  the  teams — were 


1MORMONDOM."  35 


lost  in  the  brush.  Early  next  morning  John 
returned  on  horseback  to  hunt  for  them,  their 
service  in  the  teams  being  necessary  to  proceed. 

At  an  earlier  hour  than  usual  the  Captain  gave 
orders  for  the  company  to  start — knowing  well 
the  circumstances  of  the  Widow,  and  that  she 
would  be  obliged  to  remain  till  John  returned 
with  the  lost  cattle — accordingly  the  company 
rolled  out,  leaving  her  and  her  family  alone. 

It  was  fortunate  that  Brother  James  Lawson  was 
with  them,  for  he  knew  the  road,  and  if  necessary, 
could  pilot  them  down  the  canyon  in  the  night. 
Joseph  thought  of  his  mother's  prediction  at  Elk 
Horn,  and  so  did  the  Captain,  and  he  was  deter- 
mined that  he  would  win  this  point,  although  he 
had  lost  all  the  others,  and  prove  her  prediction 
false.  "I  will  beat  you  to  the  Valley,  and  ask  no 
help  from  you  either,"  rang  in  Joseph's  ears ;  he 
could  not  reconcile  these  w^ords  writh  possibility, 
though  he  knew  his  mother  always  told  the  truth, 
but  how  could  this  come  true?  Hours,  to  him, 
seemed  like  days  as  they  waited,  hour  after  hour, 
for  John  to  return.  All  this  time  the  company 
was  slowly  tugging  away  up  the  mountain,  lifting 
at  the  wheels,  geeing  and  hawing,  twisting  along  a 
few  steps,  then  blocking  the  wheels  for  the  cattle 
to  rest  and  take  breath,  now  doubling  a  team,  and 
now  a  crowd  rushing  to  stop  a  wagon,  too  heavy  for 
the  exhausted  team,  and  prevent  its  rolling  back- 
ward down  the  hill,  dragging  the  cattle  along 
with  it.  While  in  this  condition,  to  highten  the 
distress  and  balk  the  teams,  a  cloud,  as  it  were, 


36  HEROINES  OF 

burst  over  their  heads,  sending  down  the  rain  in 
torrents,  as  it  seldom  rains  in  this  country,  throwing 
the  company  into  utter  confusion.  The  cattle 
refused  to  pull,  would  not  face  the  beating  storm, 
and  to  save  the  wagons  from  crashing  down  the 
mountain,  upsetting,  etc.,  they  were  obliged  to 
unhitch  them,  and  block,  all  the  wheels.  While 
the  teamsters  sought  shelter,  the  storm  drove  the 
cattle  in  every  direction  through  the  brush  and 
into  the  ravines,  and  into  every  nook  they  could 
find,  so  that  when  it  subsided  it  was  a  day's  work 
to  find  them,  and  get  them  together.  Meantime 
Widow  Smith's  cattle — except  those  lost — were 
tied  to  the  wagons,  and  were  safe.  In  a  few 
moments  after  the  storm,  John  brought  up  those 
which  had  been  lost,  and  they  hitched  up,  making 
as  early  a  start  as  they  usually  did  in  the  morn- 
ings, rolled  up  the  mountain,  passing  the  company 
in  their  confused  situation,  and  feeling  that  every 
tie  had  been  sundered  that  bound  them  to  the 
captain,  continued  on  to  the  Valley,  and  arrived  at 
U01d  Fort,"  about  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the 
23rd  of  September,  all  well  and  thankful.  The 
next  morning  was  Sabbath,  the  whole  family  went 
to  the  bowery  to  meeting.  Presidents  Young  and 
Kimball  preached.  This  was  the  first  time  that 
Joseph  had  ever  heard  them,  to  his  recollection,  in 
public;  and  he  exclaimed  to  himself:  "These  are  the 
men  of  God,  who  are  gathering  the  Saints  to  the 
Valley."  This  was  a  meeting  long  to  be  remem- 
bered by  those  present.  President  Young  spoke 
as  though  he  felt:  "Now,  God's  people  are  free," 


"MQRMONDOX,"  37 

and  the  way  of  their  deliverance  had  been  wrought 

out.   That  evening  Captain and  his  company 

arrived,  dusty  and  weary,  too  late  for  the  excellent 
meetings  and  the  day. of  sweet  rest  enjoyed  by  the 
Widow  and  her  family.  Once  more,  in  silver 

tones,  rang  through  Joseph's  ears.     "Father , 

I  will  beat  you  to  the  Valley,  and  will  ask  no  help 
from  you  either!"  J.  F.  S. 


A    REMARKABLE    LIFE. 


BY    "HOMESPUN." 


CHAPTER    I. 

MANY  of  the  noblest  lives  have  been  lived  in 
obscurity  and  in  poverty.  Nobility  and  virtue 
are  never  dependent  upon  surroundings.  And 
when  you  have  read  the  simple  little  chronicle 
which  I  am  about  to  relate,  I  think  you  will  agree 
with  me  that  even  though  humble  and  retiring, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  one  of  nature's  own 
heroines. 

In  a  little  cottage  in  Bravon,  Lees-Mersem,  Eng- 
land, lived  an  old  lady  named  Harris.  She  was 
given  to  study  although  very  meagrely  educated. 
She  was  feeble  and  sat  a  great  deal  of  her  time 
poring  over  her  Bible. 


38  HEROINES  OF 

One  day  her  granddaughter  came  to  visit  her, 
bringing  her  little  daughter,  Mary,  with  her.  The 
old  lady  had  been  reading  her  Bible,  and  as  her 
daughter~came  in  she  said : 

.  "My  dear,  I  have  been  reading  some  of  the  great 
prophecies  concerning  the  last  days,  and  I  feel  sure 
that  either  you  or  yours  will  live  to  see  many  of 
them  fulfilled." 

"Not  so,  grandmother,"  answered  the  woman, 
whose  name  was  Mrs.  Dunster,  "thou  wast  always 
visionary;  put  by  such  thoughts.  Our  religion's 
good  enough  for  the  like  of  us." 

The  old  lady  arose,  unheeding  her  granddaugh- 
ter's warm  reply,  and  placing  her  hands  on  the 
little  girl's  head,  said  solemnly: 

"Here's  Mary;  she  shall  grow  up  and  wander 
away  from  you  all  and  break  her  bread  in  differ- 
ent nations." 

The  solemnity  of  her  great-grandmother's  man- 
ner and  the  peculiar  spirit  that  accompanied  the 
words  made  a  vivid  impression  on  the  little  girl's 
mind.  How  well  that  strange  prophecy  has  been 
fulfilled  you  and  I,  my  reader,  can  tell  hereafter. 

The  little  girl,  whose  name  was  Mary  Dunster, 
and  who  was  born  in  Lympne,  Kent,  December  26, 
1818,  grew  up  and  when  sixteen  years  of  age  was 
asked  in  marriage  by  William  Chittenden,  who  was 
a  laborer  on  an  adjoining  farm.  She  did  not  feel 
very  willing,  but  the  young  man  urged  her  so 
warmly  that  she  hesitated  before  refusing  him. 
She  had  always  had  an  irresistible  desire  to  go  to 


"MORMONDOM."  39 

America,  where  many  emigrants  were  then  going 
from  England. 

At  last  she  consented  to  be  his  wife  on  one  con- 
dition: that  he  would  take  her  to  America.  Very 
bravely  promised  the  lover,  but  not  until  forty-two 
years  afterwards  did  he  fulfill  that  promise. 

After  they  were  married  they  settled  down  to 
work  and  lived,  William  as  farm  laborer,  in  Lym- 
pne  for  four  years.  Two  children  were  born  to 
them  in  this  place,  Mary  Ann,  born  June,  15, 1836, 
aiid  Henry,  born  August  18,  1838. 

Four  years  after  their  marriage,  at  which 
time  the  introduction  of  convicts  into  Aus- 
tralia was  prohibited  and  the  government  of  Eng- 
land offered  good  inducement  to  skilled  laborers  to 
settle  up  the  country,  William  Chittenden  conclud- 
ed to  go  to  Australia.  Previous  to  this  time  the 
English  convicts,  who  were  under  life  sentence, 
had  been  sent  clown  to  Australia,  landing  generally 
at  Botany  Bay.  These  convicts  were  brought 
down  and  sold  as  life  slaves  to  those  freeholders 
who  were  willing  and  able  to  purchase  their  labor. 
Sometimes  they  escaped  from  their  masters  and 
made  their  way  into  the  interior  of  the  country. 
These  escaped  convicts  herded  together  in  small 
parties  or  bands,  and  are  called  abush-rangers." 
They  have  now  become  a  powerful  tribe,  fierce, 
vindictive  and  unlawful.  They  resemble  very 
nearly,  in  occupation  and  temperament,  the  wild 
Bedouins  of  Asia  and  the  wild  tribes  of  Arabs  or 
Berbers  of  northern  Africa, 


40  HEROINES  OF 

Between  the  years  of  1840  and  1850,  England 
transported  many  skilled  laborers  and  artizans  to 
Australia  to  build  up  and  colonize  her  possessions 
in  the  southern  seas.  Numbers  of  the  husband's 
countrymen  were  going  down  to  the  "new  country," 
and  he  resolved  to  go  too.  Mary  objected;  she 
wanted  to  go  to  America.  I  think,  between  you 
and  me,  that  she  used  sometimes  to  remind  her 
husband  sharply  of  his  unfulfilled  promise.  But 
his  was  a  calm,  kind,  but  essentially  self-willed 
disposition,  that  listened  good-naturedly  to  all  Mary 
might  and  did  say,  but  was  no  whit  moved  there- 
by to  give  up  his  own  way.  And  so,  after  much 
controversy,  the  removal  to  Australia  was  decided 
upon  and  accomplished. 

The  young  couple  had  determined  to  engage  a 
farm  on  shares,  and  so  went,  immediately  upon 
their  arrival,  to  a  country  part  near  Botany  Bay. 
Here  they  remained  a  short  time  and  then  went 
up  to  Camden,  which  is  about  one  hundred  miles 
from  Sydney,  William  took  a  farm  and  then  com- 
menced a  long  career  of  farming  in  Australia. 
Most  of  their  children  were  born  there. 

And  now  let  me  tell  you  something  of  the  char- 
acter of  this  same  Mary,  ere  I  relate  to  you  two 
strange  dreams  which  she  had  while  living  at 
Camden. 

She  was  a  medium-sized,  well-built  woman,  with 
kind,  gray  eyes  and  a  pleasant  but  firm  mouth. 
Her  step  was  quick,  and  her  manner  was  full  of 
warm-hearted  simplicity.  She  it  was  who  ruled 
the  children,  administering  with  firm  justice  the 


"MORMONDOM."  41 

rod  of  correction.  Her  husband  contented  him- 
self by  controlling  his  wife,  leaving  the  whole  of 
the  remainder  of  the  domestic  regimen  entirely  in 
her  hands.  She  was  never  disobeyed  by  her  chil- 
dren. But  withal  "father"  was  a  tenderer  name 
to  their  large  flock  of  girls  than  was  "mother." 
But  with  all  her  firmness,  she  was  far  too  woman- 
ly to  possess  one  grain  of  obstinacy.  When  it  was 
her  duty  to  yield  she  could  do  so  gracefully.  With 
these  qualities  Mary  united  a  sound  business  ca- 
pacity, economy,  thrift  and  extreme  cleanliness. 
She  was,  and  always  has  been,  a  remarkably 
healthy  woman.  With  these  gifts  she  had  some- 
thing of  the  visionary  or  semi-prophetic  character 
of  her  great-grandmother  Harris. 

She  has  been  a  dreamer,  and  her  dreams  have 
been  of  a  prophetic  character.  Most  of  them  re- 
quire no  interpretation,  but  are  simple  forecasts,  as 
it  were,  of  the  future. 

One  dream,  which  was  indelibly  impressed  upon 
her  mind,  occurred  to  her  just  before  the  birth  of 
her  eighth  daughter,  Elizabeth.  It  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

She  dreamed  she  had  to  travel  a  long  way.  At 
last  she  reached  a  stately  white  building,  with  pro- 
jecting buttresses  and  towers.  Going  up  the  broad 
steps  she  entered  a  room  filled  with  beautiful  books. 
Seeing  a  door  ajar,  she  walked  into  the  adjoining 
room.  There  sat  twelve  men  around  a  large  table, 
and  each  man  held  a  pen.  They  were  looking  up 
as  though  awaiting  some  message  from  above.  She 
drew  back,  so  as  not  to  attract  attention,  when  a 


42  HEROINES  OF 


voice  said  distinctly  to  her:  "You  will  have  to 
come  here  to  be  married."  The  thought  passed 
through  her  mind,  "I  am  married  and  why,  there- 
fore, should  I  come  here  to  be  married? 

She  went  on  out  of  the  building  and  walked 
through  the  streets  of  the  city  that  were  near  the 
building.  The  streets  were  straight  and  clean, 
with  little  streams  of  water  running  down  under 
the  shade-trees  that  bordered  the  foot-paths.  Every- 
thing was  clean  and  beautiful  to  look  upon.  Foot- 
bridges spanned  the  little  streams,  and  the  houses 
were  clean  and  comfortable.  She  saw  just  ahead 
of  her  a  woman  driving  a  cow,  with  whom  she  felt 
a  desire  to  speak,  but  before  she  could  reach  her, 
the  woman  had  gone  in  at  one  of  the  gates.  She 
walked  on,  pleased  with  all  she  saw.  Raising  her 
eyes  she  saw  in  the  distance,  coining  to  the  city, 
what  looked  like  an  immense  flock  of  sheep.  But 
as  they  came  nearer  she  saw  they  were  people,  all 
clothed  in  white  raiment.  They  passed  by  and 
went  on  to  the  white  building.  "Ah ! "  thought 
Mary,  "if  I  was  there  now,  that  I  might  know 
what  it  all  meant!"  But  she  felt  compelled 
to  go  the  other  way.  And  so  the  dream 
ended. 

When  she  awoke  she  related  the  strange  episode 
to  her  husband  and  told  him  she  believed  her  com- 
ing confinement  would  prove  fatal.  She  thought 
the  beautiful  place  she  had  seen  could  only  be  in 
heaven,  as  she  had  never  seen  anything  like  it  up- 
on the  earth.  William  comforted  her,  but  the 
spirit  of  the  dream  never  left  her. 


^MORMONDOM."  43 


However  her  little  babe  was  born  and  she  re- 
sumed her  household  duties. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Two  years  passed  away,  and  ere  they  are  passed 
let  us  stop  a  moment  and  see  a  little  of  this  new 
country  which  lies  away  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  earth  from  America. 

Australia,  as  you  may  all  see,  my  readers,  by 
getting  out  your  geographies,  is  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  down  in  the  tropics  and  lying  south-east  of 
Asia.  It  is  generally  called  a  continent;  but  it 
looks  very  small,  does  it  not,  compared  to  Asia  or 
either  of  the  Americas?  Now,  look  down  on  the 
south-east  coast  of  this  little  continent  and  you 
will  see  Botany  Bay  and  the  city  of  Sydney  lying 
close  together.  Look  a  little  to  the  south-west  of 
Sydney  and  you  will  find  Goulburn.  Camden, 
which  is  a  comparatively  new  town,  is  not  marked 
on  the  old  maps,  lies  between  Sydney  and  Goul- 
burn. 

This  region  you  will  find  marked  as  the  "gold 
region."  But  gold  was  not  discovered  until  1857, 
eleven  years  after  the  Chiltendens  settled  in  their 
new  home. 

The  country  in  New  South  Wales  is  good  for 
farming  and  grazing ;  with  the  exception  that  it  is 
subject  to  extremes  of  drouth  and  floods.  There 


44  HEROINES  OF 

are  no  high  mountain  ranges,  and  very  few  rivers. 
There  is  no  snow  there,  and  the  Winter  season  is  a 
rainy  season  instead  of  being  cold  and  freezing 
like  our  Winters.  There  are  trees  in  that  country 
which  shed  their  bark  instead  of  their  leaves.  I 
shall  speak  of  these  trees  and  the  uses  to  which 
their  bark  is  put  further  on.  Then,  there  grows  a 
native  cherry,  which  has  the  pit  on  the  outside, 
and  the  fruit  inside.  Wouldn't  that  be  queer? 

There  are  many  precious  stones  found  in  this 
country,  and  also  considerable  gold;  but  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  failed  to  excite  William  Chittenden, 
or  turn  him  from  the  even  tenor  of  his  way. 

On  the  15th  of  April,  1853,  a  son  was  born  to 
the  Chittendens,  who  was  christened  William  John, 
but  who  only  lived  a  few  weeks. 

Some  time  after  his  death  Mary  dreamed  that 
she  was  lying  in  her  bed  asleep.  It  was,  as  you 
might  say,  a  dream  within  a  dream.  As  she  lay 
sleeping  two  men,  each  carrying  a  satchel  in  one 
hand  and  a  cane  in  the  other,  came  to  the  foot  of 
her  bed.  She  dreamed  then  that  she  awoke  from 
her  dream  and  looked  earnestly  at  these  two  men ; 
so  earnestly  that  their  faces  were  indelibly  fixed  up- 
on her  memory.  One  of  them  held  out  to  her  a 
little  book. 

"What  is  the  use  of  my  taking  the  book?"  she 
thought  within  herself,  "I  cannot  read  a  line,  for  I 
have  never  learned  to  read."  Then,  after  a  mo- 
ment's hesitation,  she  thought,  "Why,  I  can  take 
it  and  my  children  can  read  it  to  me."  So  she 
took  the  book. 


"MORMONDOM."  45 

One  of  the  men  said  these  remarkable  words  to 
her: 

"We  are  clothed  upon  with  power  to  preach  to 
the  people." 

She  awoke  in  reality  then,  with  those  strange 
words  thrilling  her  with  a  new  power  she  had  nev- 
er felt  before.  She  roused  her  husband  up  and 
related  her  dream,  and  he  replied  kindly  to  her. 

They  had  now  been  married  eighteen  years  and 
Mary  had  borne  seven  girls  and  two  boys;  neither 
of  the  two  boys,  however,  had  lived  but  a  short 
time.  The  farm  upon  which  they  lived  had  been 
rented,  or  leased,  from  a  large  land-owner  named 
McArthur,  for  twenty-one  years.  This  McArthur 
owned  some  thousands  of  acres  of  farming  and 
grazing  land  in  this  region,  which  was  leased  in 
farms  of  various  proportions.  . 

The  Chittendens'  farm  consisted  of  two  hun- 
dred acres,  and  was  mostly  farming  land.  The 
terms  upon  which  they  leased  it  were  very  similar 
to  others  in  that  country.  For  the  first  five  years 
they  paid  sixpence  an  acre.  After  that  it  was  ten 
shillings  an  acre. 

William  put  up  the  house  in  which  they  lived, 
and  an  odd  house  it  was,  too.  First  he  took  a 
number  of  poles,  or  uprights,  which  he  placed  in 
the  earth  at  regular  distances.  With  these  he 
made  the  framework  of  his  house.  Between  these 
uprights  were  placed  smaller  poles.  Then  he  took 
fine  willows  and  wove  them,  or  turned  them  round 
the  center,  or  smaller  pole,  resting  the  ends  on  the 
larger  poles.  In  and  out  went  these  willows,  some- 


46  HEROINES  OF 

thing  the  same  way  as  you  will  see  willow  fences 
here.  Then  he  made  a  thick  mud  and  well  cov- 
ered" the  whole,  inside  and  out.  Next  came  a  good 
plaster  of  lime  and  sand,  and  finally  all  was  white- 
washed. The  roof  was  made  with  rafters  laid 
across  the  top.  Now  came  in  this  bark  about 
\Yhich  I  told  you.  Going  up  to  the  forests  which 
were  found  on  the  near  hillsides,  the  bark  was  cut 
in  the  lengths  wanted  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the 
tree;  then  with  a  sharp  knife  split  on  two  sides, 
upon  which  it  peeled  off  in  thick,  straight  slabs. 
It  was  then  nailed  on  in  the  place  of  shingles,  each 
one  overlaping  the  under  one.  Then  the  floor  was 
nailed  down  with  wooden  pegs,  "adzed"  off  and 
finally  smoothed  with  a  jack-plane. 

In  this  manner  one  large  sitting-room,  two  bed- 
rooms, a  dairy  and  a  kitchen,  detached  from  the 
main  building,  were  built;  to  which  was  afterwards 
added  a  long  porch  to  the  front  of  the  house, 
which  faced  east,  the  rooms  all  being  built  in  a 
row. 

Mary  cooked  upon  a  brick  oven,  which  was  built" 
upon  a  little  standard  just  between  the  kitchen 
and  the  house. 

Large  fire-places  were  built  in  the  kitchen  and 
sitting-room.  The  one  in  the  kitchen,  being  big 
enough  to  take  three  immense  logs,  which  would 
burn  steadily  for  a  whole  week. 

The  dairy  was  well  furnished  with  pans,  pails, 
etc. 


"MORMON&OM."  47 


CHAPTER  III. 


IN  1853,  William  decided  to  take  a  trip  up  to 
Sydney  to  sell  a  load  of  grain,  bringing  back  with 
him,  if  he  succeeded  as  he  wished,  a  load  of  freight 
for  some  settlement  or  town  near  his  home.  There 
was  a  great  demand  for  wheat  now  as  many  hun- 
dreds of  emigrants  had  rushed  into  the  great  gold 
country.  William  left  the  farm  to  be  managed  by 
his  prudent  little  wife  and  started  out  on  his  hun- 
dred mile  trip.  How  little  did  he  dream  of  the 
result  of  this  journey!  On  his  arrival  in  Sydney 
after  the  disposal  of  his  wheat,  he  walked  out  to  see 
an  old  friend  named  William  Andrews  who  lived 
in  the  suburbs  of  the  town.  Here  he  passed  the 
time  until  evening  when  Mr.  Andrews  remarked, 
"I  say,  Chittenden,  I've  got  some  brothers  come 
from  America,  and  I  am  going  up  to  see  them. 
Would  you  like  to  go  along?" 

U0h,yes,"  replied  William,  "I  did'nt  know  you 
had  any  brothers  in  America!" 

And  so,  arm  in  arm,  they  entered  the  little  room 
where  several  men  sat  at  a  table,  or  pulpit  with  a 
strange  book  in  their  hands  and  strange  words 
upon  their  lips.  Here  William  heard  the  sound  of 
the  everlasting  gospel  for  the  first  time. 


48  HEROINES  OF 

From  the  iirst  William  felt  the  truth  contained 
in  the  words,  of  the  Elders  although  he  knew 
little  or  nothing  concerning  them. 

On  their  way  home  Mr.  Andrews  explained  to 
him  that  these  men  were  his  brothers,  being  broth- 
ers in  the  covenant  of  Christ. 

"And  Chittenden,"  he  added,  "if  any  of  them  go 
down  your  way,  you'll  give  them  dinner  and  a 
bed,  won't  you,  for  I  know  you  can?" 

"Oh,  as  to  that,"  replied  William,  "I  would'nt 
turn  a  beggar  from  my  door,  if  he  was  hungry 
or  wanted  a  roof  to  cover  him." 

William  procured  a  load  of  freight  for  a  man  in ' 
Goulburn  (one  hundred  miles  further  south  than 
Camden)  and  started  on  his  return  trip.  His 
mind  was  often  upon  the  things  he  had  heard,  and 
he  wondered  what  it  all  meant.  The  Elders  to 
whom  he  had  listened  were  Brothers  Farnham, 
Eldredge,  Graham  and  Fleming,  Brother  Farn- 
ham having  charge.  They  were  the  second  com- 
pany of  Elders  ever  sent  to  Australia. 

After  the  departure  of  William  Chittenden,  a 
council  was  held  by  the  Elders  and  it  was  decided 
that  Brothers  Fleming  and  John  Eldredge  should 
go  up  to  Camden  and  the  surrounding  district.  At 
the  last  moment  however,  Elder  Fleming  was  de- 
sired to  remain  in  Sydney  by  Brother  Farnham 
and  Elder  Graham  was  sent  in  his  place.  I  men- 
tion this  circumstance  as  it  was  closely  connected 
with  one  of  Mary's  dreams.  When  William 
reached  his  home,  he  told  Mary  about  these  strange 
men. 


"MORMONDOM."  49 

"What  did  you  think  of  them  William?" 
"Well  Mary  if  they  don't  speak  the  truth  then  I 
never  heard  it  spoken."      And  then  he  went  down 
to  Goulburn  with  his  freight. 

One  lovely  day  in  summer  two  dusty,  tired,  hun- 
gry men  each  with  a  satchel  and  a  walking-cane  in 
their  hands,  stopped  at  the  wide  open  door  of  the 
Chittenden  farm-house.  And  what  saw  Mary, 
when  she  came  to  the  porch?  With  a  queer  throb, 
she  saw  in  her  door  the  very  man  who  came  to  her 
bedside  in  her  dream.  She  even  noticed  the  low- 
cut  vest  showing  the  white  shirt  underneath.  But 
as  he  stepped  inside,  and  her  eye  fell  upon  his 
companion,  she  saw  he  was  not  the  second  one  of 
her  dream,  although  he  too  carried  a  cane  and 
satchel.  She  invited  them  within,  and  the  first 
one  said, 

"We  are  come,  madam,  to  preach  the  gospel." 
The  words,  almost  identical  with  those  of  her 
dream.  Giving  her  their  names,  he  whose  name 
was  Eldredge  explained  to  her  that  they  traveled  up 
from  Sydney,  and  in  all  the  hundred  miles,  they 
had  found  no  one  willing  to  give  them  food  and 
shelter. 

Mary  bustled  around  and  prepared  dinner  for 
her  guests.  When  evening  drew  near,  Brother 
Eldredge  remarked, 

"Mrs  Chittenden,  can  you  let  us  remain  here 
over  night?" 

"Oh,"  said  Mary,  "I  am  afraid  I  have  no  place 
to  put  you!" 


HEROINES  OF 


"Well  you  can  let  us  sit  up  by  your  fireside,  and 
that  is  better  than  lying  on  the  ground  as  we  have 
done  lately!" 

And  then  Mary  assured  them  that  she  would  do 
the  best  she  could  for  them.  So  a  bed  was  spread 
out  on  the  floor  of  the  sitting-room,  and  here  the 
foot-sore  Elders  were  glad  to  rest  their  bodies. 

The  principles  and  doctrines  of  these  men  fell 
deep  into  Mary's  heart,  and  like  her  husband  she 
felt  they  spoke  the  truths  of  heaven. 

One  evening  in  conversation  with  them,  Mary 
told  Brother  Eldredge  that  she  had  seen  him  be- 
fore in  a  dream.  But,  she  added,  you  were  accom- 
panied by  another  man,  not  Mr.  Graham. 

"Ah  well,  that  might  have  been.  You  may 
have  seen  Brother  Fleming  for  he  was  coming 
with  me,  but  Brother  Farnham  altered  the  appoint- 
ments at  the  last  moment!" 

And  it  proved  so.  When  Mary  afterwards  saw 
Brother  Fleming  she  recognized  him  as  the  sec- 
ond one  of  her  dream. 

The  Elders  were  not  idle  because  they  had  found 
a  comfortable  resting  place,  but  traveled  about  seek- 
ing to  get  opportunities  of  spreading  the  gospel 
One  family  named  Davis,  whose  farm  (rented  from 
McArthur)  joined  the  Chitteiiden's,  listened  with 
pleased  interest  to  these  new  doctrines.  In  the 
course  of  two  weeks  after  the  arrival  of  the  Elders, 
William  Chittenden  came  home,  and  expressed 
a  gladness  in  his  heart  to  find  the  Elders  at  his 
home.  He  immediately  fixed  up  a  bedroom 
near  the  sitting-room  for  the  use  of  the  Elders. 


"MORMONDOM."  51 

Weeks  went  into  months,  and  still  the  Chittendens 
were  not  baptized. 

The  Elders  made  Camden  their  head-quarters, 
but  went  about  through  the  surrounding  country, 
meeting,  however,  with  very  little  success.  Wil- 
liam and  his  wife,  with  their  oldest  daughter  were 
ready  to  be  baptized,  as  were  the  Davis'.  But  al- 
most a  year  after  the  arrival  of  the  brethren  was 
allowed  to  slip  by  without  the  baptisms  having 
been  performed. 

I  want  to  stop  and  tell  you  a  little  about  the 
worldly  condition  of  this  couple,  as  well  as  men- 
tion a  detail  or  two  more  about  the  country  they 
were  living  in  before  I  go  on  with  my  story. 

They  had  brought  their  two  hundred  acres  un- 
der good  cultivation ;  they  had  a  large  fruit  gar- 
den back  of  the  house,  in  which  grew  the  most  de- 
licious peaches,  plums  and  cherries.  The  country 
is  so  adapted  to  fruit  that  peach-stones  thrown  out 
near  running  water  would  be  fruit-bearing-trees  in 
three  years.  There  were  no  apples,  but  such  quan- 
tities of  tropical  fruits.  Grapes,  melons,  figs,  lem- 
ons and  oranges  were  so  plentiful  and  so  cheap 
that  William  would  not  spend  time  to  grow  them. 
A  sixpence  (12  cents)  would  buy  enough  of  these 
fruits  to  load  a  man  down. 

They  had  four  horses,  one  wagon,  a  dray  and  a 
light  spring  cart  six  cows  and  many  calves,  plenty 
of  pigs  and  droves  of  chickens,  turkeys  and  geese. 

The  large  granary  to  the  south  of  the  house 
groaned  with  its  wealth  of  wheat  corn,  barley 
and  oats. 


52  HEROINES  OF 

And  while  I  am  speaking  of  wheat  I  am  mind- 
ed to  give  a  description  of  the  way  adopted  to  pre- 
serve wheat  in  that  country.  Mr.  McArthur,  the 
owner  of  all  these  thousands  of  acres,  received 
from  his  tenants  a  share  of  the  wheat  grown. 
This  he  stored  up  as  there  was  little  or  no  sale  for 
it  until  drought  years,  when  it  commanded  a  good 
price. 

•  After  the  three  years  drought  which  occurred 
there  prior  to  1853,  William  and  his  wife  went  to 
this  Mr.  McArthur  to  get  wheat.  He  had  dug  a 
very  large  vault  or  cellar,  and  this  had  been  well 
cemented ,  top,  bottom  and  sides.  Here  the  wheat  had 
been  stored  for  twelve  years  when  the  Chittendens 
went  to  get  theirs.  The  wheat  was  perfectly  sound 
and  sweet.  Over  the  vault  a  store-house  had  been 
built,  and  the  door  to  it  was  near  the  top  of  the 
cellar. 

You  can  see  that  our  kind  friends  were  well-to- 
do,  and  had  every  prospect  ahead  for  success  and 
prosperity. 

In  the  Spring  of  '54,  the  Davis  family  and  the 
Chittendens  decided  to  be  baptized.  Rumors,  and 
false  reports  had  been  rapidly  spread  about  the 
Latter-day  Saints,  and  their  enemies  sprang  up 
like  magic.  Many  sarcastic  and  insulting  remarks 
were  made  about  the  "dipping"  (as  the  baptism 
was  called)  of  the  two  families.  Mr.  McArthur 
was  a  bitter  enemy  to  the  new  sect. 

One  day  the  Davises  were  over  to  Chittenden's 
and  remarked  they  were  going  to  be  baptized  the 
following  Monday  in  the  river  near  their  house. 


'MORMONDOM."  53 


William  decided  to  corne  over  with  his  family  on 
the  same  day.  So  on  the  24  of  April  1854  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  were  baptized  by  John  Eldredgein 
Camden,  Australia.  From  the  moment  of  their 
baptism  until  now  no  faltering  or  doubt  has  ever 
been  in  the  hearts  of  these  true.  Saints.  In  the 
evening  of  the  same  day,  the  girls  were  all  baptized 
by  the  Elders  into  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-day  Saints. 

The  gospel  once  having  been  received  the  spirit 
of  "gathering"  soon  follows.  And  with  Mary,  who 
had  always  wished  to  go  to  America,  how  much 
more  intense  that  spirit  was  now! 

As  she  sat  and  listened  to  the  Elder's  description 
of  Zion  being  built  up  in  the  bleak  mountains,  of 
the  pretty  streets  lined  with  shade-trees,  and 
watered  by  swift-running  streamlets  she  turned  to 
her  husband  told  him  that  this  must  be  the  place 
of  her  dream. 

William  was  a  very  quiet,  determined  man,  who 
could  not  be  turned  from  the  way  he  had  chosen. 

The  days,  when  through  the  long  summer  eve- 
rings,  they  all  sat  and  listened  to  the  various 
principles  and  the  new  and  lovely  doctrines 
unfolded  one  by  one,  by  the  Elders,  like  the  petals 
of  a  glorious  flower,  were  the  very  happiest  Mary 
and  her  family  ever  knew.  Poor  Mary!  They 
were  the  light  which  shone  over  her  dreary  on- 
coming future,  sometimes  brightly,  sometimes 
faintly,  but  always  shining  over  the  wretched, 
darksome  road  of  the  next  twenty  years. 


54  HEROINES  OF 

One  little  circumstance,  which  will  illustrate 
Mary's  simple  but  powerful  faith  will  perhaps  be 
worth  mentioning  and  may  strengthen  some  other 
one's  faith.  Just  before  the  birth  of  her  eighth 
girl,  which  occurred  in  the  Fall  after  their  baptism, 
she  felt  low  and  miserable,  scarcely  sick  enough 
to  be  in  bed,  but  too  ill  to  work.  One  evening 
Bro.  Eldredge  was  talking  to  her  and  said  that  if 
she  had  any  sickness  or  bodily  ill,  it  was  her 
privilege  as  it  was  of  any  member  of  the  Church, 
to  call  upon  the  Elders  to  administer  to  her,  and 
then  if  she  exercised  faith,  it  would  leave  her. 
Mary  had  never  read  a  word  in  her  life,  and  so 
this  came  to  her  as  a  new  and  very  precious  truth. 

"Well,  Bro.  Eldredge,  if  I  can  be  ministered  to 
and  get  well,  I  want  to  now,"  said  Mary. 

So  the  ordinance  was  performed,  and  she  was 
indeed  instantly  healed.  From  that  day  for  many 
months  she  never  felt  one  moment  of  illness.  And 
she  says  to  me  to-day  in  her  simple  quaint  way, 

"I  have  never  been  ministered  to  in  my  life  since, 
that  I  did  not  get  better." 

Ever  since  the  arrival  of  the  Elders,  the  Chit- 
tendens  had  opened  their  house  for  them  to  hold 
meetings  in  on  Sundays.  No  other  place  had  ever 
been  obtained,  so  that  the  meetings  of  the  Saints, 
or  those  who  were  friendly  to  them,  were  still 
held  in  Mary's  cosy  sitting-room. 

On  the  1st  of  Nov.  1854,  Mary  had  another 
daughter  whom  they  named  Alice.  In  two  weeks 
she  was  up  and  able  to  be  about  the  house.  The 
Sunday  on  which  the  baby  was  two  weeks  old, 


"MORMONDOM"  55 

the  family  had  taken  dinner,  the  things  had  been 
washed  and  set  away,  and  all  sat  in  the  dining  or 
sitting-room  talking  of  gathering  to  Zion. 

They  had  eight  girls  now,  and  it  would  take 
quite  a  sum  of  money  to  emigrate  them  all  to 
Utah.  So  thinking  to  increase  their  means  a 
trifle,  Mary  had  taken  a  little  motherless  boy, 
about  seven  years  old,  his  father  paying  a  certain 
amount  a  week  for  his  board.  This  was  money  and 
they  would  never  miss  his  board  as  they  raised 
everything  which  they  consumed.  This  little  boy 
was  very  troublesome  and  mischievous.  He  was 
very  fond  of  playing  out  in  the  hired  men's 
bedroom  which  was  over  the  granary. 

On  the  Sunday  of  which  I  am  speaking,  he  was 
out  in  the  men's  room,  and  there  found  some 
matches.  He  thought  he'd  have  some  rare  fun 
then,  so  out  he  ran,  matches  in  hand,  and  made 
what  he  called  a  "pretty  fire,"  right  down  close  to  the 
pig  pens.  He  watched  it  burn  up,  quietly  at  first, 
and  then — whew! —  here  is  a  jolly  little  breeze 
catches  up  the  flame,  and  carries  it  bravely  up 
right  on  to  the  roof  of  the  pig-pen.  Then  how  it 
did  sputter,  and  crackle,  and  leap.  The  boy  was 
old  enough  to  see  by  that  time,  that  something 
more  than  a  bit  of  mischief  would  grow  out  of 
that  tiny  flame.  It  spread  over  the  pens  like  a 
living  thing.  Frightened  now,  he  sped  away, 
down  to  the  nearest  farm-house,  running  in  and 
shouting  to  the  gentleman,  Mr.  Root  who  lived 
there,  "I  didn't  set  the  pig-styes  on  fire;  I  struck  a 
match,  and  it  blowed." 


56  HEROINES  OF 

Mr.  Root  hitched  up  his  horse  to  his  water-budge, 
a  cask  on  wheels  which  he  carried  water  from  a 
lake  near  the  Chittendens'  house,  and  started  on  the 
run  for  the  scene  of  the  boy's  wickedness.  The 
Chittendens  saw  him  pass  their  door  running  to 
the  lagoon  or  lake.  "I'll  declare,"  said  Mary,  "is  Mr. 
Root  going  for  water  on  Sunday?  I  never  knew 
him  to  do  such  a  thing  before!" 

Just  then  Eliza  ran  in  and  said,  "Father,  the 
shed  is  full  of  smoke." 

She  had  been  down  to  gather  eggs  from  the  shed. 

The  barn,  pig-styes,  cow  sheds,  granary,  poultry 
houses  and  stacks  were  all  at  the  back  of.  the  house 
arid  about  six  rods  away. 

At  last,  William  got  up  to  go  down  to  the  shed 
to  see  what  was  the  matter. 

When  he  looked  out  of  the  back  door,  what  a 
sight  met  his  eyes — the  whole  yard  in  flames! 
Others  had  seen  the  fire,  for  the  farm-house  faced 
the  public-road,  and  people  wrere  all  passing  there 
on  their  road  to  Chapel.  But  no  one  except  Mr. 
Root  ever  offered  a  hand  of  help. 

"Oh,"  said  they,  "  it's  those  d — d  Mormons,  let 
them  burn  up  and  go  to  h ." 

The  whole  family  rushed  down  to  the  fire  and 
tried  to  stop  its  progress  but  all  to  no  avail.  The 
pigs  could  not  be  driven  out,  and  were  literally  roast- 
ed alive.  The  barn,  sheds,  pens  and  every  combus- 
tible thing  went  down  before  the  relentless  flames. 
Farm  implements  of  every  description,  even  the 
grain  to  the  amount  of  hundreds  of  bushels,  were 
burned.  The  flames  swept  towards  the  house. 


57 


Then  how  they  worked.  Everything  movable  was 
got  out,  and  the  roof  was  torn  off;  and  the  men 
commenced  pouring  water  on  the  walls  to  save 
them. 

"Alas  for  the  rarity  of  Christian  charity."  If  a 
few  brave  men  had  given  help  when  the  fire  was 
first  discovered,  much  might  have  been  saved, 
But  when  it  was  all  •  over,  and  Bro.  Eldredge  and 
William  had  thrown  themselves  on  the  ground 
completely  exhausted,  and  the  only  Christian  who 
had  helped  them,  Mr.  Root,  had  gone  home  in  the 
same  condition,  Mary  sat  out  doors  with  a  few  of  her 
household  goods  broken  and  scattered  around  her, 
her  two  weeks'  old  babe  wailing  in  her  arms, 
and  all  that  was  left  of  their  comfortable  home, 
the  empty,  blackened,  smoking  walls  of  the  house 
looming  up  in  the  twilight  fast  falling  around  her! 
Hundreds  of  cart  loads  of  burnt  grain  were  carted 
away  for  the  next  few  days  and  buried.  How 
many  bright  hopes  and  happy  plans  were  buried 
at  the  same  time,  only  the  future  would  tell!  The 
roof  was  speedily  put  on  again,  and  things  inside 
made  as  comfortable  as  might  be. 

Bro.  Eldredge  still  advised  going  out  to  Utah 
with  what  means  they  could  scrape  up,  but  William 
would  only  shake  his  head  despondently  and  say, 
"I  dont  see  how  I  can  do  it." 

Mary  urged  all  she  dared,  for  she  knew  the  Elders 
were  about  to  leave  for  home.  It  was  no  use. 
The  only  answer  she  got  was,  "not  now,  Mary,  not 
now." 


58  HEROINES  OF 


He  found  an  opportunity  about  that  time  of 
going  up  into  the  country  a  hundred  miles  with 
some  freight.  While  he  was  away  a  gentleman  came 
to  the  farm-house  and  wished  to  buy  the  good  will 
of  the  farm. 

You  will  remember  William  had  rented  it  for 
twenty-one  years.  About  fourteen  years  of  the 
lease  had  expired.  .  The  improvements,  etc.,  al- 
ways went  with  the  lease.  So  when  this  gentle- 
man offered  to  pay  three  hundred  pounds  ($1,400) 
for  the  remainder  of  the  lease,  or  the  "good-will," 
as  it  is  termed  in  that  country,  Mary  thought  it  a 
very  fortunate  thing. 

The  loss  by  fire  had  exceeded  three  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds,  or  about  sixteen  or  seventeen  hundred 
dollars  of  our  money;  and  Mary  thought  if  she 
could  sell  the  lease  of  the  farm,  then  they  could 
sell  what  stock  and  personal  property  was  left 
them,  that  making  perhaps  another  two  hundred 
pounds,  which  might  get  them  all  to  America.  So 
she  sold  it;  knowing,  however,  that  the  bargain 
would  not  be  legal  unless  ratified  by  her  husband. 
She  hoped,  though,  that  he  would,  see  things  as 
she  did.  When  William  reached  home  Mary  told 
him  what  she  had  done. 

"Humph ;  I  suppose  you  know  it's  of  no  use  un- 
less I  give  my  word,  too?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  Mary,  sorry  to  know  her  hus- 
band was  so  annoyed,  "you  can,  of  course,  upset  it 
all." 

Then  she  explained  all  her  hopes  and  plans  to 
him.  How  they  could  raise  five  hundred  and  fifty 


"MORMONDOM."  59 

pounds,  and  then  they  could  surely  get  to  Amer- 
ica with  that  tidy  sum.  "And  you  know,  too,  you 
promised  years  ago  to  take  me  to  America." 

"And  reach  there,"  objected  William,  "with  a 
big  family  of  little  children,  and  not  a  shilling  to 
buy  'em  bread  with.  Nice  plan,  that !  " 

In  vain  she  argued  and  plead.  William  was  not 
to  be  moved.  No  one  could  blame  him  for  not  be- 
ing guided  by  his  wife's  advice.  Albeit  she  was  a 
prudent,  far-seeing,  wise  little  woman,  whose  ad- 
vice had  always  been  proved  to  be  of  the  best ; 
still  the  man  leads  the  woman,  not  woman  the 
man. 

But  when  Brothers  Eldredge  and  Graham  coun- 
seled him  to  return  with  them,  it  was  quite  a  dif- 
ferent matter.  They  were  over  him  in  the  Priest- 
hood and  had  a  right  to  his  obedience,  even  as  he 
exacted  obedience  from  his  wife  and  family.  How- 
ever he  still  refused,  simply  saying,  "I  don't  see 
how  I  can  go  just  now,  Brother  Eldredge!" 

And  so  the  time  passed  on,  and  the  Elders  left 
Australia  without  the  Chittendens.  The  Davis 
family,  who  were  baptized  at  the.  same  time  as  was 
William  and  his  wife,  accompanied  the  Elders,  and 
part  of  the  same  family  are  now  residing  in  Miners- 
ville,  Utah. 

Here  then  was  the  grand  mistake  of  William's 
life.  He  did  not  see  it  then,  nor  for  years  after, 
but  the  time  came  when  he  wished  in  the  agony  of 
his  soul  that  he  had  gone  to  Utah  when  told  to  do 
so,  even  if  he  had  reached  there  without  one 
penny  to  buy  a  crust  of  bread  on  his  arrival! 


60  HEROINES  OF 

Their  girls  were  all  with  them  and  unmarried  and 
they  could  have  brought  their  family  unbroken  to 
Utah.  But  instead  of  that  twenty-three  years 
after  they  came  with  the  merest  remnant  of  their 
once  large  family,  leaving  almost  all  their  loved 
ones  behind  them,  and  married  to  enemies  of  this 
work. 

Is  not  this  a  grand  lesson  for  our  young  Elders? 
How  easy  it  is  to  fancy  that  our  own  wisdom, 
especially  about  our  private  affairs,  is  better  tha  n 
any  one's  else!  But  when  the  voice  of  God  speaks 
through  His  servants  and  says,  "Do  thou  so!"  woe  to 
the  man  who  turns  from  that  and  works  out  his  own 
will  in  direct  opposition.  Let  this  sink  deep  into 
your  hearts,  my  young  readers,  and  remember 
always,  God  knoweth  best! 


CHAPTER  IV. 


ALTHOUGH  William  was  annoyed  at  the  step  his 
wife  had  taken,  he  concluded  to  let  matters  go  as 
they  were.  However,  much  to  Mary's  chagrin,  he 
took  a  farm  close  by,  and  tried  to  make  another 
start.  Nothing  seemed  to  go  right. 

On  the  24th  of  July,  1856,  Mary  gave  birth  to 
another  daughter,  to  whom  they  gave  the  name  of 
Rachel.  The  next  year  another  company  of 
Elders  came  down  from  Utah  under  the  leadership 


"MORMONDOM."  61 

of  Brother  Stewart.  These  also  made  their  stop- 
ping place,  while  in  that  part  of  the  country,  at 
the  home  of  the  Chittendens.  But  if  the  Elders  met 
with  little  success  during  their  former  mission,  this 
time  seemed  a  complete  failure.  No  one  could  be 
found  to  give  them  a  moment's  hearing.  One 
Brother  Doudle  came  up  near  Camden,  and  used 
every  endeavor  to  gain  a  foot-hold.  Instead  of 
kindness  he  met  with  cruelty ;  and  in  place  of  bread 
they  threw  him  a  stone.  For  two  days  he  traveled 
and  could  find  neither  a  place  to  sit  down,  a  crust 
to  eat  nor  a  thing  to  drink. 

When  he  got  back  to  the  Chittendens,  he  walked 
wearily  in,  and  Mary's  daughter,  Jane,  bustled 
around  to  get  him  something  to  eat.  "No,"  said 
he,  "don't  cook  ine  a  thing.  I  want  nothing  but  a 
piece  of  bread  and  a  drink  of  water." 

She  hastily  set  what  he  required  before  him,  and 
after  he  had  eaten  he  said,  "Sister  Jane,  you  shall 
receive  the  blessing  for  this.  I  have  not  broken 
my  fast  since  I  left  your  house  until  now.  I  have 
had  to  sleep  out  under  the  forest  trees.  I  am 
now  fully  satisfied  there  is  no  place  to  be  had  to 
hold  meeting.  I  thought  as  I  was  leaving  the 
city,  shall  I  shake  the  dust  off  my  feet  as  a  testi- 
mony against  this  people?  No,  no ;  I  will  leave  it 
all  in  the  hands  of  God !'" 

The  bitter  prejudice  of  people  around  Camden 
grew  worse  and  worse.  At  last  the  word  went  out 
that  all  the  missionaries  were  to  return  to  Utah 
immediately.  This  was  in  1857,  when  Johnson's 
army  was  advancing  upon  Utah, 


62  HEROINES  OF 

Before  leaving  Camden,  the  Elders  prophesied 
openly  that  trouble  should  fall  heavily  upon  the 
people  who  had  refused  them  even  a  hearing.  From 
that  time  until  the  "Mormon"  missionaries  re- 
turned and  opened  the  door  of  mercy,  there  was 
not  one  stalk  of  grain  raised  in  the  whole  district 
of  Camden,  and  people  had  been  unable  to  obtain 
a  living. 

With  what  earnest  prayers  did  Mary  seek  to  per- 
suade her  husband  to  go  along  too!  And  the  Elders 
counseled  him  to  return  with  them.  But  no,  he  could 
not  feel  to  go  with  his  helpless  family  and  have  little 
or  nothing  to  support  them  when  he  arrived  in 
America.  So  the  last  Elder  bade  them  good-by 
and  turned  away  from  their  door.  Alas!  eighteen 
years  passed  away  before  they  ever  heard  another 
Elder's  voice. 

William  was  like  his  wife,  unable  to  read  one 
word,  and  all  that  he  knew  of  this  gospel  had  been 
taught  him  orally  by  the  missionaries.  He  was  also 
very  young  in  the  faith,  and  had  not  learned  the 
great  lesson  of  obedience  nor  dreamed  its  mighty 
weight  in  this  Church.  For  this  reason  God  was 
merciful  to  him,  and  did  not  deprive  him  of  the 
light  of  the  gospel,  but  taught  him  the  painful  but 
necessary  lesson  through  much  and  long  tribula- 
tion. And  his  children,  although  scattered  and 
living  most  of  them  in  Australia,  retain  the  love 
of  the  truth  in  their  hearts. 

After  the  Elders  had  been  recalled,  Mary  com- 
menced to  feel  a  great  brooding  darkness  settle 
(Jown  over  her.  In  the  day  she  could  throw  it  off, 


"MORMONDOM."  63 

but  when  night  closed  her  labors  and  laid  her  at 
rest,  the  darkness  would  fold  around  her  like  a 
garment.  She  was  anything  but  a  nervous,  imagi- 
native woman,  and  this  terrible  darkness  grewinto 
something  tangible  to  her  husband  as  well  as  to 
herself.  At  last  he  listened  to  her  and  decided  to 
once  more  sell  out  and  get  away. 

Two  more  girls  were  born  to  Mary  before  leav- 
ing Camden  vicinity.  One,  Caroline,  was  born 
May  10,  1858,  the  other,  Louisa,  was  born  June  25, 
1860.  Mary  had  then  eleven  girls,  her  two  sons 
having  died  in  infancy.  The  older  girls  were  very 
much  disappointed  that  neither  of  the  last  two 
were  boys.  Especially  was  this  the  case  when 
Louisa  was  born ;  their  chagrin  being  expressed  so 
loudly  that  it  reached  their  mother's  ears.  She  was  a 
trifle  disappointed  herself,  but  when  she  heard  their 
comments  she  was  really  sad  and  cast  down.  The  feel- 
ing could  not  be  shaken  off  until  the  next  day;  when 
as  she  lay  dozing,  a  voice  plainly  said  to  her:  "You 
shall  have  a  son,  and  he  shall  grow  up  and  be  a 
great  comfort  to  you  in  your  old  age."  As  usual 
she  related  the  circumstance  to  her  husband  and 
he  fully  believed  in  it.  He  thought  he  would  try 
"sluicing"  for  gold  in  some  of  the  mining  camps. 
The  process  called  "sluicing  gold,"  or  washing  it,  is 
as  follows :  A  box  about  a  foot  wide  and  two  feet 
long,  is  fitted  with  several  little  boards  or  slats, 
about  an  inch  high,  across  the  bottom.  This  is  to 
make  the  water  ripple  over.  Into  this  box  the  sand  is 
shoveled,  and  the  water  washes  away  the  dirt  leav- 


64  HEROINES  OF 

ing  tiny  nuggets  of  gold  in  the  bottom  of  the  box. 
This  is  of  course  in  the  regions  where  gold  is 
found  plentifully.  Rocks  are  broken  up  and  shov- 
eled in,  and  often  are  richer  than  the  sand.  But 
this  "sluicing"  process  is  a  slow  one,  so  much  of 
the  finer  portions  of  gold  being  washed  away.  If 
quicksilver  was  used  to  gather  the  tiny  shining 
metal,  it  would  prove  much  more  profitable,  but 
quicksilver  itself  is  expensive. 

'So  William  sold  out,  and  they  started  up  to  a 
place  called  Lemon  Flat  in  the  early  Spring  of  '61. 
All  of  a  sudden  severe  rains  set  in ;  the  country  was 
flooded,  and  the  soft  soil  became  actually  impass- 
able. Insomuch  so  that  the  family  were  obliged 
to  relinquish  the  idea  of  going  to  Lemon  Flat  and 
turned  aside  to  go  to  another  mining  camp  called 
Gunderoo. 

While  going  to  Gunderoo  the  day  they  reached 
the  outskirts  of  the  town,  was  a  very  tiresome  one 
for  all.  Mary  had  a  light,  one-seated  carriage,  a 
great  deal  like  the  one  horse  delivery  carts  in  Salt 
Lake  City.  She  often  got  out  and  walked  for  exer- 
cise. In  the  latter  part  of  the  afternoon,  the 
wagon,  followed  by  the  girls  and  their  father,  walk- 
ing, pushed  ahead  to  reach  the  summit  of  the  hills 
overlooking  Gunderoo,  or  the  "gap"  as  it  was 
called,  there  to  pitch  their  tents  and  prepare 
supper. 

Mary,  walking  near  the  cart,  began  to  feel  a 
curious  weakness  creep  over  her.  No  pain,  only  a 
weakness  in  every  joint.  Alarmed  at  the  long 
absence  of  their  mother,  two  of  the  oldest  girls 


'MORMONDOM"  65 


hurried  back,  and  found  her  seated  by  the  road- 
side unable  to  proceed  another  step.  They  assisted 
her  to  rise,  and  half  carried  her  up  the  hill  to 
the  tents.  She  whispered  to  them  to  put  her  in 
bed  in  the  cart  where  she  always  slept.  They  did 
so.  But  she  grew  weaker  and  weaker.  She  would 
faint  entirely  away,  then  slowly  come  back,  and 
wonder  feebly  what  was  the  matter,  and  why  they 
all  stood  around  so.  Then  faint  away  again,  and 
so  on  all  night.  At  last  Jane  remembered  her 
mother  had  a  little  consecrated  oil  packed  away, 
and  she  searched  among  the  boxes  till  she  found 
it.  They  administered  to  her  then,  and  she  re- 
vived some.  But  begged  to  be  taken  away  from 
that  place. 

Her  husband  felt  she  might  die  if  he  did  not 
comply  with  her  wish,  so  they  started  immediately 
for  Yass  river.  They  were  traveling  along,  when 
Mary's  horse  gave  out.  She  was  obliged  then  to 
wait  for  her  husband  to  return,  and  get  her. 
She  felt  much  better,  and  thought  she  could  get 
out  and  walk  about  a  little.  So  she  directed  the 
young  man  who  drove  her  cart  to  let  down  the 
shafts.  She  got  out,  but  the  moment  she  went  to 
rest  her  feet  on  the  ground,  she  fell  to  the  earth. 
The  young  man  assisted  her  into  the  cart  again, 
and  then  for  three  months  she  never  stood  upon 
her  feet.  There  was  no  pain  whatever,  only  an 
extreme  weakness. 

While  camping  on  the  Yass  river  the  next  even- 
ing, Mary  had  a  dream  which  when  related  sounds 


66  HEROINES  OF 


like  the  history  of  her  life  for  the  following  twenty 
years;  so  true  is  it  in  every  particular. 

She  dreamed  that  she  saw  herself  and  her  fam- 
ily, traveling,  struggling  and  trying  to  get  a  start 
again.  Everything  seemed  to  go  against  her  hus- 
band. Sickness  came,  and  she  saw  herself  the 
only  one  able  to  be  out  of  bed.  Deadly  sickness 
too,  but  she  was  promised  that  there  should  be  no 
death.  Things  seemed  to  grow  blacker  and  blacker. 
At  last,  starvation  approached  and  she  saw  them 
all  without  a  morsel  of  food  to  eat;  everything 
sold  for  food,  even  their  clothes.  Then  when  the 
last  remnant  of  property  had  been  taken  from 
them,  the  tide  turned.  She  was  told  they  should 
at  last  go  to  Goulburn,  where  they  would  break 
land,  and  prosperity  should  once  more  visit  them, 
and  that  they  should  finally  reach  Zion.  The 
dream  was  terrible  in  its  reality.  She  awoke  trem- 
bling and  sobbing,  and  awaking  her  husband  she 
told  him  she  had  been  having  a  fearful  dream. 

"I  would  rather,"  she  added,  "have  my  head 
severed  from  my  body  this  minute,  than  go  through 
what  I  have  dreamed  this  night." 

"Well,  wife,"  answered  William,  "let  us  hope  it 
is  nothing  but  a  dream." 

She  related  it  to  him,  but  he  felt  too  confident 
in  his  own  strength  to  believe  such  a  dream  as 
that.  It  gradually  faded  from  Mary's  mind  as 
such  things  will  do,  but  now  and  then  some  cir- 
cumstance would  recall  it  to  her  mind  with  all  the 
vividness  of  reality. 


"MORMONDOM."  67 

While  camping  on  the  Yass,  a  stranger  came  to 
William  and  asked  him  for  his  daughter  Maria, 
who  was  then  only  fourteen  years  old.  William 
replied  that  Maria  was  nothing  but  a  child,  and 
he  was  an  utter  stranger,  so  he  could  not  for  a 
moment  think  of  consenting.  Three  nights  after 
this,  the  man  stole  the  girl  away,  and  when  morning 
came  and  the  father  discoverd  the  loss,  he  was  almost 
frantic  with  grief.  He  was  a  most  devoted  and 
affectionate  father,  and  he  was  fairly  beside  him- 
self with  his  daughter's  disappearance.  He  spent 
money  like  water.  Advertised,  went  from  place  to 
place,  searched  and  hired  others  to  search  with 
him,  for  the  missing  girl.  It  was  of  no  use.  She 
was  never  found. 

While  searching  for  her  four  of  his  horses  wan- 
dered away,  and  only  one  ever  returned.  Then, 
finally  giving  up  in  despair,  he  hired  horses  and 
went  to  Yass  city.  Arriving  there  William  ob- 
tained work  for  a  man  named  Gallager,  at  putting 
up  a  barn. 

They  had  been  settled  but  a  short  time  when  the 
baby  was  prostrated  with  colonial  fever.  Mary 
did  all  she  could,  but  the  child  grew  worse.  Four 
months  went  by  and  still  there  was  no  improve- 
ment. At  last  Mary  persuaded  her  husband  to  get 
a  doctor.  The  doctor  came  and  told  the  mother 
there  was  one  chance  in  a  hundred  of  the  baby's 
life.  No  signs  of  life  seemed  left  in  the  little  body, 
but  he  ordered  her  to  put  a  strong  mustard  poul- 
tice over  the  stomach.  "If  it  raises  a  blister," 
said  he?  "she  will  live.  If  not,  she  is  dead/' 


68  HEROINES  OF 

Into  Mary's  mind  there  suddenly  flashed  her 
dream.  "Sickness,  but  no  death."  Well,  then,  her 
baby  should  live. 

A  short  time  after  the  doctor's  departure,  Mrs. 
Gallager,  a  neighbor,  came  into  the  tent,  and  said, 
"Mrs.  Chittenden,  let  me  hold  the  child." 

"No,  Mrs.  Gallager,  thank  you,  I  would  rather 
hold  her." 

The  woman  bustled  about  and  got  a  tea-kettle  of 
water  upon  the  stove. 

"What  are  you  doing,"  asked  Mary. 

"Getting  a  bit  of  hot  water.  The  child  is  dead, 
so  we  will  want  some  water  hot." 

"She  will  not  die,  Mrs.  Gallager.  She  is  going 
to  live." 

"Why,  woman,  she  is  dead  now!  Her  finger 
nails  are  black !" 

"No,  she  is  not  dead,"  persisted  the  mother. 
Who  knows  the  great  power  and  faith  of  a 
mother? 

Within  a  few  hours  the  child's  breathing  became 
audible.  Her  recovery  was  very  slow.  And  while 
she  still  lay  weak  and  ill,  William  was  stricken 
down  by  the  same  complaint.  He  grew  rapidly 
worse.  He  too  lay  ill  for  several  months.  He  was 
in  a  very  critical  condition,  but  whenever  able  to 
speak  he  would  tell  Mary  not  to  bring  a  doctor, 
for  he  should  recover  without  one.  The  turn  for 
the  better  came  at  last,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  able 
to  get  about  a  little,  they  determined  to  go  to 
Lemon  Flat.  Their  first  idea  in  going  to  Lemon 
Flat  had  been  to  homestead,  or  "free  select"  land, 


'MORMONDOM."  69 


as  it  is  called  in  Australia.  However,  they  were 
far  too  poor  now  to  do  this,  so  William  got  odd 
jobs  to  do.  He  scraped  all  he  could  together,  and 
bought  a  horse  for  fifteen  pounds.  But  shortly 
afterwards,  he  heard  of  one  of  his  lost  animals 
about  eighteen  miles  up  the  country,  so  he  made 
a  trip  up  to  find  the  animal.  Arriving  at  the  place, 
he  heard  that  a  Chinaman  had  just  gone  to  an- 
other camp,  on  the  horse.  That  night  he  tethered 
his  horse  out,  and  next  morning  at  daybreak  went 
out  as  usual  for  him,  and  behold,  he,  too,  had  dis- 
appeared, not  leaving  a  track  of  a  hoof  to  guide 
anyone  in  a  search  for  him.  So  William  was  at 
last  obliged  to  trudge  wearily  home,  eighteen 
miles,  carrying  his  saddle  on  his  back. 

And  thus  one  year  dragged  heavily  by.  While 
here  Jane  was  married  to  John  Carter,  and  Ellen 
to  a  Grecian  man  named  Nicolas  Carco.  Also,  just 
as  they  were  leaving  Lemon  Flat,  Eliza  married 
a  Mr.  Griffin. 

Now  they  determined  to  go  once  more  to  Gun- 
deroo  to  try  what  could  be  done  there.  The  reason 
why  William  wished  to  go  to  Gunderoo  was,  that 
no  matter  what  came  or  went,  wages  could  be 
made  by  a  man  in  "sluicing  gold."  Now  the  fam- 
ily were  almost  destitute.  After  their  arrival  in 
Lemon,  and  for  months,  most  of  the  children  lay 
sick  with  the  colonial  fever. 


70  HEROINES  OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

BETWEEN  three  or  four  years  had  passed  since  they 
left  Camden  (over  eight  years  since  the  last  mis- 
sionary left  Australia),  and  the  Chittendens  were 
much  poorer  than  they  were  when  they  left. 

For  many  years  Mary  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
going  about  to  her  neighbors,  nursing  them  during 
confinement.  This  was  a  necessity  of  the  country, 
one  woman  going  to  another,  as  there  were  no 
regular  nurses  to  be  had.  She  became  acquainted 
in  her  labors  with  a  Doctor  Haley,  the  best  physi- 
cian in  Goulburn.  He  always,  after  the  first  time 
when  she  nursed  under  him,  sent  for  her.  This 
practice  put  many  an  odd  pound  into  her  pocket. 
Her  husband  was  far  from  idle,  however.  With 
his  disposition  he  could  never  be  so.  He  took 
charge  of  the  estate  of  a  gentleman  named  Massy, 
who  was  absent  in  Ireland  for  eighteen  months 
on  business. 

As  soon  as  he  was  released  from  this  situation, 
where  he  had  earned  some  money  and  a  good  por- 
tion of  grain,  he  rented  a  farm.  With  anxious 
hope  and  honest  labor  he  seeded  down  twenty 
acres  with  the  grain  he  had  on  hand. 

He  who  sendeth  the  rains,  withholdeth  them  at 
His  pleasure!  For  two  years  there  was  a  complete 


"MORMONDOM."  71 

drouth  visited  the  country.  William  walked  over 
his  field  and  could  not,  at  the  end  of  the  season, 
pluck  one  single  armful  of  grain. 

While  living  in  this  place  the  promised  son  was 
born  to  Mary,  and  once  again  her  prophetic  dream 
was  realized.  He  was  born  May  28,  1865,  and 
William  named  him  Hyrum.  When  the  baby  was 
two  years  old,  little  Alice  came  home  from  school, 
and  said  she  felt  very  sick.  As  long  as  thei?e  was 
a  second  penny  in  the  house,  no  matter  where  they 
were,  or  what  their  circumstances,  these  good  pa- 
rents had  kept  their  children  at  school.  Without 
education  themselves,  no  effort  was  spared  to  give 
their  children  the  great  blessing  they  had  so 
missed. 

Alice  came  home,  quite  sick  at  her  stomach,  and 
her  mother  felt  alarmed  at  once,  for  her  children 
were  regularly  and  simply  fed,  and  when  anything 
of  the  kind  happened  to  them  she  knew  it  was  of 
an  uncommon  and  serious  nature. 

Jane  had  returned  to  her  mother's  house,  while 
her  husband  was  up  the  country  on  a  mining  ex- 
pedition. She  had  a  young  baby  eleven  months 
old. 

When  the  doctor  came  next  day  he  pronounced 
Alice's  case  one  of  the  most  violent  scarlet  fever. 
Next  day  Jane  and  Rachel  came  down,  and  the 
next  day  Louisa  and  Caroline  fell  ill  with  the 
dreadful  disease.  Jane  had  the  fever  so  violently 
that  Mary  was  obliged  to  we.an  the  baby.  Every- 
one in  the  family  was  now  ill  but  herself,  and  she 
with  a  baby  two  weeks  old.  For  eleven  long  weeks 


?2  HEROINES 


the  anxious  mother  never  had  her  clothes  off,  but 
to  change  them.  The  disease  was  of  such  a  violent 
type  that  not  one  human  being  had  courage  or  had 
humanity  enough  to  enter  the  door.  Alone  and 
utterly  unaided  she  went  from  one  bedside  to 
another  administering  food  and  medicine.  The 
physician  was  the  only  one  who  ever  visited  her, 
and  at  the  times  when  he  came  (twice  a  day)  to 
attend  to  them,  she  would  sit  down  long  enough  to 
take  up  her  infant  and  give  it  the  breast. 

Three  months  of  sickness,  toil  and  suffering,  then 
the  fever  spent  itself,  and  Mary  could  begin  to 
realize  their  condition  financially.  Something 
must  be  done,  for  funds  were  very,  very  low. 

There  was  a  sudden  excitement  about  this  time 
at  a  place  called  Mack's  Reef,  which  was  three 
miles  from  Gunderoo.  Gold  was  found  in  quartz, 
and  was  very  rich  indeed,  at  this  new  camp.  Wil- 
liam decided  to  go.  So  investing  their  last  cent 
to  purchase  a  simple  crushing-mill,  and  to  take 
themselves  out,  the  Chittendens  went  to  Mack's 
Reef. 

Misfortune  was  too  well  acquainted  with  them 
now  to  be  driven  away,  so  she  curled  herself  up  in 
the  crushing-mill,  and  behold  it  failed  to  do  its 
work.  It  lost  both  the  gold  and  the  quick- 
silver. 

Matters  were  now  getting  desperate.  Food  was 
wanted.  Strain  and  economize  as  she  might,  Mary 
could  not  make  things  hold  out  much  longer.  The 
pennies  followed  the  shillings,  until  when  the  last 
half-penny  had  to  be  taken  for  flour,  William 


looked  at  Mary  and  said,  "Mary,  what  are  we  com- 
ing to?  Must  our  children  starve?" 

"No,  William,  please  God !  But  do  you  remem- 
ber my  dream?  You  may  not  believe  it,  but  I 
know  it  was  a  true  dream.  Oh,  William,  why  did 
we  not  go  to  Zion  when  we  were  told?  Surely  our 
sufferings  could  not  be  more  than  they  are  here. 
Here,  take  these  clothes,*  they  are  things  that  I  can 
spare ;  you  will  have  to  sell  them  for  bread." 

And  so  it  went.  Garment  followed  garment, 
and  yet  there  seemed  no  chance  of  earning  a 
penny.  Finalty,  there  were  no  more  clothes;  every- 
thing was  sold. 

Then  William  took  his  gun,  and  went  to  the 
woods.  But  after  a  very  short  time  that,  too,  failed 
and  they  were  starving. 

That  night,  when  the  little  children  were  put 
hungry  to  bed,  William  walked  the  floor  in  the  agony 
of  his  mind.  "My  God  !"  groaned  the  wretched  man, 
"must  my  children  starve  before  my  very  eyes? 
In  my  pride  I  fancied  my  family  would  be  better 
in  my  hands  than  in  the  hands  of  their  Almighty 
Father!  Oh,  that  I  had  listend  to  counsel! 
Now  my  family  are  fast  leaving  my  roof,  and  we 
that  are  left  are  starving.  Starving  in  a  land  of 
plenty!" 

God  listened  to  the  prayers  of  His  humbled  son, 
and  he  was  enabled  to  get  a  little  something  to 
eat.  But  the  lesson  was  not  over  yet. 

Mary  had  obtained  a  situation  as  nurse  and  this 
helped  them.  William  thought  he  would  go  up 
to  Goulburn,  a  large  inland  town,  where  he  felt 


74  HEROINES  OF 

sure  he  would  find  some  employment.  Accord- 
ingly he  left  the  family  with  Mary,  but  of  course 
in  very  wretched  circumstances.  It  was  the  best 
that  he  could  do,  so  Mary  was  satisfied  to  be  left. 

The  trip  to  Goulburn  was  made  in  the  old  spring 
cart,  which  had  been  left  of  the  wreck  of  their 
comfortable  traveling  outfit.  The  horse,  which 
William  had  just  found  previous  to  starting,  was 
one  of  the  four  he  had  lost  on  the  Yass  river. 
The  poor  thing  had  been  so  abused  that  it  was 
almost  worthless.  In  fact,  it  had  no  money  value, 
for  in  that  country  where  good  stock  was  com- 
paratively cheap  he  had  tried  again  and  again 
before  leaving  Mack's  Reef  to  sell  the  horse  and  the 
cart,  or  either  alone,  in  order  to  get  flour  for  his 
starving  family,  but  no  purchaser  could  be  found. 

So  he  went  up  to  Goulburn  and  took  odd  jobs  as 
he  could  get  them.  When  he  had  been  gone  some 
few  months,  a  company  of  prospecters  brought  in 
a  new  machine  to  crush  the  quartz.  This  fanned 
the  dead  embers  of  hope  in  every  one's  breast, 
and  even  Mary  thought  if  she  could  get  William 
to  come  down  and  try  his  quartz  in  this  new  mill, 
they  would  succeed  at  last. 

But  how  to  get  word  to  him?  He  was  at 
Goulburn,  eighteen  miles  away.  There  was  no 
mail,  and  she  had  not  a  vestige  of  anything  to 
pay  for  sending  word  to  him.  She  was  very  weak 
too  from  lack  of  food.  But  every  one  around  her 
was  so  confident  of  the  grand  success  about  to  be 
made,  that  she  resolved  to  try  to  walk  up  to 
Goulburn.  Accordingly,  she  set  out  leaving  the 


"MORVONDOM*"  75 

baby  at  home  with  the. girls,  and  walked  feebly 
towards  Goulburn.  She  was  about  half-way  there 
when  she  came  to  a  river.  This  was  forded  by 
teams,  but  across  it  had  been  thrown  a  plank,  and 
a  poor  one  it  was,  too.  Mary  looked  at  the  foaming 
water,  and  then  at  the  rotten  plank,  and  felt  it 
would  be  an  impossibility  almost  to  go  across. 
Still,  she  must  get  over,  so  she  started;  but  she  had 
only  got  a  little  way  out  before  her  head  began  to 
reel,  she  was  weak  and  faint,  and  about  to  fall, 
when  she  had  sense  remaining  to  lay  flat  down  on 
the  plank,  and  wait  for  strength.  As  she  prayed 
for  strength  and  help  she  heard  a  horse's  hoofs 
behind  her,  and  a  gentleman  on  horseback  dashed 
into  the  stream.  He  rode  up  to  her  and  said, 

"Madam,  permit  me  to  help  you.  Let  me  take 
your  hand  and  I  will  ride  close  by  the  board,  and 
thus  get  you  across  all  right." 

"Oh  sir,  you  are  very  kind,"  answered  Mary  as  she 
arose  thanking  God  that  He  had  heard  her  prayer. 

"Where  are  you  going,  madam?  Pardon  me, 
I  do  not  ask  from  idle  curiosity." 

"To  Goulburn,  sir  to  my  busband." 

"I  was  wondering  as  I  came  along,  to  see  a 
woman  on  this  lonely  road.  You  surely  do  not 
expect  to  reach  Goulburn  to-night?" 

"I  thought  sir,  I  would  go  as  far  as  I  could,  then 
lie  down  and  rest  until  I  could  go  further." 

"Well  my  poor  woman,  good-by!  and  success 
attend  you  on  your  journey." 

"Many  thanks,  kind  sir,  may  God  reward  your 
kind  act."  And  so  he  rode  on. 


?6  tiiefcoitf&s  OP 


Mary  went  on  some  distance,  and  began  to  feel 
that  she  could  go  no  farther.  Suddenly  she  saw  a 
woman  approaching  her.  Wondering,  the  two 
women  at  last  met,  and  the  stranger  said  to  Mary, 

"Are  you  the  woman  a  gentleman  on  horseback 
assisted  across  the  river?" 

"Yes  ma'am." 

"Then  you  are  to  come  with  me.  He  has  paid 
us  for  your  supper  and  lodging  to-night.  Also,  he 
paid  me  to  come  out  and  meet  you  and  show  you 
the  way." 

"Thank  God!  I  am  almost  worn  out.  What 
was  the  gentleman's  name,  please?" 

"That  I  can't  tell.  But  here's  our  house.  Come, 
get  your  supper,  it  is  waiting." 

And  thus  was  her  humble  prayer  answered,  and 
a  friend  raised  up  to  her  in  her  sore  need. 

The  next  day  Mary  reached  Goulburn,  and  she 
and  her  husband  returned  the  following  day  in 
the  cart,  to  Mack's  Reef.  But  after  reaching  the 
Reef,  William  found  it  would  require  quite  a  sum 
of  money  to  do  anything  with  his  quartz,  so  at 
last  abandoning  everything,  he  left  the  Reef  in 
disgust.  The  poor  old  horse  died  shortly  after 
that,  and  thus  they  only  had  the  cart  remaining. 
The  harvest  time  was  approaching,  and  William 
had  the  rent  to  pay  on  the  farm  he  had  taken,  and 
which  had  failed  so  dismally.  So  he  went  to  the 
owner  and  offered  to  harvest  out  the  amount.  The 
offer  was  accepted,  and  he  went  harvesting  the 
remainder  of  the  season. 


"MORMONDOM."  tf 

Meantime,  Mary  had  been  sent  for,  to  nurse  a 
lady  who  lived  a  few  miles  out  from  Gunderoo. 
So,  not  liking  to  lose  so  good  an  opportunity  of 
making  a  bit  of  money,  she  weaned  her  ten  month's 
old  baby,  and  left  him  at  home  with  the  girls. 
She  was  engaged  for  a  month,  receiving  a  pound 
a  week,  about  twenty  dollars  a  month,  for  her 
services. 

.When  she  returned,  she  found  her  husband  at 
home.  You  know,  William,  I  told  you  my  dream 
would  surely  be  fulfilled.  Are  you  not  willing  to 
admit  that  so  far  it  has  come  true  every  word?" 

"Well  yes,  Mary,  but  what  then?" 

"Then,  in  my  dream  we  were  to  lose  everything 
before  the  turn  would  come,  and  we  should  com- 
mence to  prosper.  We've  nothing  left  now  but 
the  spring  cart.  Give  that,  as  it  is  too  poor  to  sell, 
to  Isaac  Norris.  Then  let  us  go  to  Goulburn,  and 
once  more  try  farming.  You  know  we  must  break 
land  there." 

"Thou  art  like  a  woman.  If  we  part  with  the 
cart,  how,  pray,  shall  we  get  to  Goulburn."  "Why, 
William,  have  I  not  brought  home  four  pounds? 
That  will  move  us  to  Goulburn.  Come  husband, 
let  us  get  away  from  here."  At  length  William 
consented;  the  spring  cart  was  given  to  their 
son-in-law,  Isaac  Norris,  and  the  whole  family 
moved  up  to  Goulburn.  Their  daughter  Alice 
was  soon  after  married  to  a  Mr.  Larkum,  and  had 
one  child  named  Lavinia  by  him.  The  girl  was 
treated  very  badly,  and  at  last  gave  the  child  to 
her  mother  to  raise.  Mary  has  never  since  been 


78  HEROINES  OF 

separated  from  this  child,  but  has  reared  her  as 
her  own.  Four  or  five  years  passed  away,  Wil- 
liam farming  and  Mary  nursing  at  times.  William 
did  the  farming  for  a  widow  lady  named  Day, 
who  kept'  a  lodging-house  about  four  miles  out 
from  Goulburn.  She  was  a  very  fine,  active,  kind- 
hearted  woman,  and  for  the  next  ten  years,  was 
a  true  friend  to  the  Chittendens.  In  fact,  the 
best  friend  they  ever  had  in  Australia.  Mary 
used  often  to  go  up  to  her  house,  when  not  out 
nursing,  for  a  week  at  a  time  to  assist  the  widow 
with  her  work.  Goulburn  is  a  very  large,  hand- 
some, inland  town  in  Australia,  situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  rich  farming  district.  On  one  side  of 
the  town,  away  to  the  left,  was  a  large  hill,  covered 
with  fine  timber.  The  Chittendens  had  rented  a 
small  house  about  four  miles  out  from  Goulburn. 

About  five  years  after  their  coming  to  Goulburn, 
Mary  had  another  dream.  A  personage  came  to 
her  and  began  talking  to  her  of  her  affairs.  This 
personage  said  to  her  among  other  things: 

"You  shall  take  a  farm,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  road  to  where  you  now  live.  And,  after,  you 
shall  prosper  exceedingly.  Then  you  shall  take 
money,  constantly,  from  this  side  of  the  road,  and 
you  shall  be  blessed,  insomuch  that  you  shall 
soon  go  to  Zion  thereafter."  When  she  awoke, 
she  told  the  dream  to  her  husband.  Shortly  after 
this  a  rumor  reached  them  that  a  certain  man 
named  Grimson  was  about  to  give  up  his  farm, 
which  he  rented  from  a  gentleman  named  Gibson. 
This  surely  must  be  the  place  of  her  dream,  for 


"MORMONDOM."  79 

was  it  not  across  the  road  from  them?  And  so 
she  talked  to  her  husband  about  the  matter.  But 
he  had  no  sympathy  nor  hope  to  give  her  on  the 
subject. 

"Mary  how  can  you  think  of  such  a  thing? 
What  could  I  do  with  a  farm?  I  haven't  a  tool  nor 
an  animal  to  use.  It  is  impossible.  So  don't  talk 
of  it." 

But  Mary  was  far  from  satisfied.  However,  she 
knew  her  husband  too  well  to  urge  the  matter, 
when  he  spoke  as  he  had  done.  And  further,  in 
a  very  short  time  after  the  farm  was  vacated,  it 
was  re-let  to  another  person.  Mary  was  thus  forced 
to  give  it  up.  A  month  or  so  slipped  by,  and  one 
night  Mary  dreamed  the  same  dream,  in  relation 
to  the  farm  across  the  road.  She  thought,  however, 
she  would  not  mention  it  to  her  husband.  In  a 
week  or  so,  they  again  heard  the  farm  was  to  let,  as 
the  family  was  dissatisfied.  Then  Mary  made 
bold  to  tell  her  husband  of  the  repetition  of  the 
dream,  and  beg  him  to  try  and  take  it. 

"Why  do  you  keep  urging  me  about  that  farm, 
Mary?  I  have  not  one  thing  to  do  with.  I  tell 
you  it  is  impossible." 

And  again  disappointed,  Mary  thought  she 
would  say  no  more  about  the  matter.  That  day 
she  was  going  up  to  spend  a  week  at  Mrs.  Day's 
assisting  her  in  her  housework  and  cleaning. 
After  she  arrived  there,  she  prepared  breakfast,  and 
she  and  Mrs.  Day  sat  down  to  eat.  As  they  were 
talking,  Mrs.  Day  said,  "Why  doesn't  Mr.  Chit- 
tenden  take  that  farm  of  Gibson's?  I  hear  it  is 


Of 


again  vacant.      He  is  a  good  farmer,  and  could 
easily  attend  to  that  as  well  as  look  after  mine." 

"He  would  like  to  do  so,  no  doubt,  but  he  thinks 
he  could  not  on  account  of  having  nothing  to  do 
with,  no  teams  nor  machines,  nor  in  fact  any- 
thing" 

"Well,  if  that's  where  the  trouble  lies,  I'll  tell 
you  what  111  do.  He  shall  have  the  use  of  my  horses 
and  plows  and  all  the  farm  machines  for  nothing, 
and  I  will  furnish  him  seed  grain  for  the  first  year, 
and  he  can  let  me  have  it  back  after  he  gets  a 
start." 

"Oh  Mrs.  Day,  you  are  too  good  to  us." 

"Not  a  bit  of  it.  I  would  do  more  than  that  to 
keep  you  in  the  country.  You  know  that  I  could 
not  possibly  live  without  your  help,"  replied  the 
lady,  laughingly. 

Mary  could  hardly  contain  herself  for  joy.  And 
when  night  came,  she  begged  to  be  allowed  to  go 
home  that  night,  as  she  could  not  wait  a  whole 
week  before  telling  her  husband  the  good  news. 

Accordingly  she  hurried  home  that  night  and 
told  her  husband  what  Mrs.  Day  had  said. 

"Mary,"  said  William,  "if  Mrs.  Day  tells  me  the 
same  as  she  tells  you,  I'll  take  Gibson's  farm." 

So  early  the  next  morning  they  started  on  their 
errand.  The  farm  house  opposite  them  was  vacant, 
and  as  they  passed  Mary  asked  herself,  trembling- 
ly, if  they  should  be  sufficiently  blessed  to  live 
there.  Mrs.  Day  greeted  them  very  kindly  and 
told  them  they  were  just  in  time  for  breakfast. 


'MORMONDOM."  8i 


"Thank  you,  Mrs.  Day ;  but  Mary  has  been  tell- 
ing me  you  spoke  to  her  about  our  taking  Gibson's 
farm."  " 

"So  I  did,  Chittenden;  and  I  tell  you  if  you'll 
take  the  farm,  keeping  mine  too,  mind,  you  shall 
have  the  use  of  my  team,  wagon  and  farm  imple- 
ments. Besides,  I  will  lend  you  your  seed  grain 
for  the  first  year,  and  you  can  return  it  after- 
wards." 

"Well,  Mrs.  Day,  if  you  are  so  kind  as  that,  all 
I  can  do  is  to  thank  you  and  accept  the  pffer.  I 
will  go  right  on  to  Mr.  Gibson  at  once  and  make 
the  bargain." 

Mr.  Gibson  was  quite  pleased  to  have  William 
take  the  farm.  That  same  week  the  family  moved 
across  the  road,  and  Mary  felt  like  a  new  woman. 

During  all  these  fifteen  years  you  may  be  sure 
Mary  and  William  had  often  talked  of  the  religion 
that  was  so  dear  to  both.  Their  daughters,  al- 
though they  had,  perforce,  married  those  outside 
the  Church,  were  staunch  "Mormons,"  and  are  to 
this  day. 

One  day  William  met  Mr.  Gibson  who  said, 
"I  have  been  thinking,  William,  you  can  open  a 
gate  on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  opposite  your 
own  door,  and  make  a  bit  of  a  road  to  the  woods, 
and  you  can  take  toll  from  the  gate.  You  know 
you  live  on  the  public  turnpike  from  Goulburn, 
and  this  toll  road  would  be  a  good  thing  to  the 
Goulburn  people." 

"How  much  could  you  allow  me,  sir?" 


HEROINES  Of1 


"Five  shillings  from  every  pound.  Then  your 
children  could  attend  the  gate." 

Very  well,  I  will  do  so,  and  am  very  grateful  to 
you  for  the  privilege." 

"Well,  mother,"  said  William  soon  after,  as  he 
entered  the  house,  "your  money  is  coming  from  the 
other  side  of  the  road." 

And  when  he  had  laughingly  told  her  how,  she 
said  she  felt  more  like  crying  than  laughing,  she 
was  so  grateful  to  God. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  story  of  prosperity  is  so  much  easier  to  tell, 
and  in  truth  is  so  much  shorter  than  the  tale  of 
adversity  and  suffering,  that  we  may  well  hasten 
over  the  remaining  five  years  of  their  waiting  in 
that  far-distant  land. 

Everything  prospered.  But  about  the  second 
year  William's  health  commenced  to  break  down. 
Gradually  he  became  more  and  more  incapable  of 
work,  until  at  last,  one  day,  he  came  in  and 
throwing  himself  down,  he  exclaimed,  "Mary,  I 
have  done  my  last  day's  work."  It  was  even  so. 
But  God  did  not  fail  them. 

In  1875,  two  men  came  up  to  the  door,  and  asked 
for  food  and  shelter.  When  they  announced  them- 
selves as  Elders  from  Utah,  Mary's  hands  were  out- 


"MORMONDOM."  83 

stretched  and  her  heart  filled  with  great  joy,  even 
as  her  eyes  ran  over  with  happy  tears. 

The  Elders  were  Jacob  Miller  of  Farmington,  and 
David  Cluff  of  Provo,  since  dead.  A  month  or 
two  afterwards,  Elder  Charles  Burton  and  John 
M.  Young  of  Salt  Lake  City,  also  were  warmly  wel- 
comed at  the  farm. 

William's  illness  was  Bright's  disease  of  the  kid- 
neys, and  he  was  slowly  dying. 

They  left  Sydney  on  the  7th  of  April,  1877,  for 
Utah,  six  souls  in  all,  William  and  Mary, 
their  children  Caroline,  Louise  and  Hyrum,  with 
the  one  grandchild,  Lavinia. 

On  their  arrival  they  went  at  once  to  Provo. 
William  had  much  more  to  bear  of  poverty  and 
suffering,  than  any  one  could  have  dreamed,  even 
after  their  arrival  here.  Mary  went  out  washing 
to  eke  out  their  store,  (they  had  barely  ten  dollars 
left,)  and  the  two  girls  got  positions  in  the  factory. 

Within  a  year,  Caroline  married  Eleazer  Jones, 
and  Louisa  married  Abraham  Wild.  The  last 
named  couple  live  near  their  mother  now. 

Caroline  has  moved  with  her  husband  to  Ari- 
zona. Mary's  eldest  daughter,  Mary  Ann  May- 
berry,  also  came  with  her  husband  and  family  to 
Utah  in  1879. 

I  would  not  linger  if  I  could  on  the  severe  suffer- 
ing, and  painful  death  of  William,  just  twelve 
month  from  the  day  they  left  home. 

When  the  sad  day  came  on  which  he  left  them 
all,  in  spite  of  his  awful  agony,  he  called  his  only 
boy  Hyrum,  who  was  then  thirteen  years  old,  and 


84  HEROINES  OF 

stretching  out  the  thin,  wasted  hands  he  blessed 
him  fervently,  and  said,  "You  are  going  to  be  a 
good  boy  to  your  mother,  I  think?" 

"Yes,  father,  I  will,"  answered  the  lad,  manfully. 

"My  boy,  I  can  do  nothing,  no  work  in  the 
Temple  for  her,  nor  for  myself;  I  have  got  to  go." 

"If  you  have  got  to  go,  father,"  tremblingly  said 
the  boy,  "I  will  do  all  that  lies  in  my  power." 

"Remember  mother,  Hyrum,  she  has  been  good 
to  us,  and  worked  hard  for  us  all  her  days."  Then 
again  he  blessed  him,  and  soon  the  peaceful  end 
came,  and  the  poor  aching  frame  was  at  rest. 

A  year  or  two  of  hard,  constant  work  at  the 
wash  tub  passed  away,  and  one  night  the  personage 
who  had  visited  Mary  before  came  to  her  in  a 
dream  and  said: 

"Mary,  the  time  has  now  come  for  you  to  go 
and  do  the  work  for  yourself  and  your  husband. 
If  you  will  go,  you  shall  soon  have  a  home  after- 
wards." 

Here  was  a  command  and  a  promise.  Hyrum 
had  shot  up  and  was  a  tall,  quiet-mannered  young 
man,  and  had  gone  out  on  a  surveying  expedition, 
carrying  chains  for  the  men,  to  earn  some  money. 
His  great  ambition  was  to  get  a  home  for  his 
mother. 

On  his  return  from  the  surveying  expedition  he 
put  nearly  $100.00  into  his  mother's  hands.  A 
day  or  two  after  he  said,  "Mother  I  would  like  to  go 
down  to  St.  George  aird  do  father's  work;  you  know  I 
promised  him  to  do  it  as  soon  as  I  could,  and  this 
is  the  first  money  I  have  ever  had.  I  am  sixteen 


"MORMONDOM."  85 

years  old,  and  if  the  Bishop  thinks  I  am  worthy, 
I  would  like  to  go." 

Mary  quickly  told  her  dream,  which  she  had 
hesitated  mentioning,  fearing  he  would  not  like  it, 
but  he  believed  it. 

"Mother,  I  will  go  this  very  night,"  he  said  when 
she  had  concluded  her  story,  "and  see  what  the 
Bishop  says." 

So  down  he  went,  arid  Bishop  Booth  very  willingly 
told  him  to  go,  and  he  felt  pleased  to  give 
the  necessary  recommends. 

They  went  and  had  a  most  glorious  time,  and  on 
her  return  Mary  went  to  washing  again.  But 
mark!  In  less  than  one  year  from  that  time 
they  had  bargained  for  a  place,  and  got  two  little 
rooms  built  upon  it. 

If  you  come  to  Provo,  go  and  see  dear  old  Sister 
Chittenden;  she  is  sixty-six  years  old,  and  quite  a 
hearty,  happy  little  woman  yet. 

She  meditatively  pushes  aside  her  neat,  black 
lace  cap  from  her  ear,  with  her  finger,  as  I  ask 
what  to  say  to  you  in  farewell,  and  with  mild  but 
tearful  eyes,  says: 

Tell  them  for  me,  always  to  be  obedient  to  the 
counsel  of  those  who  are  over  them;  and  obey  the 
whisperings  of  God,  trusting  to  Him  for  the  result! 
And  then,  God  bless  them  all!  Amen." 


86  HEROINES  OF 


A   HEROINE  OF   HAUN'S  MILL 
MASSACRE. 


THE  name  of  Sister  Amanda,  or  Mrs.  Warren 
Smith,  is  .well  known  to  the  Latter-day  Saints. 
She  has  had  a  most  eventful  life,  and  the  terrible 
tragedy  of  Haun's  Mill,  in  Caldwell  county,  when 
her  husband  and  son  were  killed,  and  another  son 
wounded,  have  made  her  name  familiar  to  all  who 
have  read  the  history  of  the  mobbings  and  driv- 
ings in  the  State  of  Missouri.  Mrs.  Smith  was 
bom  in  Becket,  Birkshire  Co.,  Mass.,  Feb.  22, 1809. 
Her  parents  were  Ezekiel  and  Fanny  Barnes;  she 
was  one  of  a  family  of  ten  children.  Her  grand- 
father, on  her  mother's  side,  James  Johnson,  came 
from  Scotland  in  an  early  day,  and  in  the  revolu- 
tionary war  held  the  office  of  general ;  he  was  a 
great  and  brave  man.  Sister  Smith  says 
that  her  father  left  Massachusetts  when  she  was 
quite  young  and  went  up  to  Ohio,  and  settled  in 
Amherst,  Lorain  county,  where  the  family  endured 
all  the  privations  and  hardships  incident  to  a  new 
country.  The  following  is  her  own  narrative: 

"At  eighteen  years  of  age  I  was  married  to 
Warren  Smith;  we  had  plenty  of  this  world's 
goods  and  lived  comfortable  and  happily  together, 
nothing  of  particular  interest  transpiring  until 
Sidney  Kigdon  and  Orson  Hyde  came  to  our  neigh- 


"MORMONDOM."  87 

borhood  preaching  Campbellism.  I  was  converted 
and  baptized  by  Sidney  Rigdon ;  my  husband  did 
not  like  it,  yet  gave  his  permission.  I  was  at  that 
time  the  mother  of  two  children.  Soon  after  my 
conversion  -to  the  Campbellite  faith,  Simeon  D. 
Carter  came  preaching  the  everlasting  gospel,  and 
on  the  1st  day  of  April,  1831,  he  baptized  me  into 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints, 
of  which  I  have  ever  since  been  a  member.  My 
husband  was  baptized  shortly  after  and  we  were 
united  in  our  faith. 

"We  sold  out  our  property  in  Amherst  and  went 
to  Kirtland,  and  bought  a  place  west  of  the  Temple, 
on  the  Chagrin  river,  where  we  enjoyed  ourselves 
in  the  society  of  the  Saints,  but  after  the  failure  of 
the  Kirtland  bank  and  other  troubles  in  that  place, 
in  consequence  of  our  enemies,  we  lost  all  our  prop- 
erty except  enough  to  fit  up  teams,  etc.,  to  take 
us  to  Missouri.  We  started  in  the  Spring  of  1838, 
and  bade  farewell  to  the  land  of  our  fathers  and 
our  home  to  go  and  dwell  with  the  Saints  in  what 
then  seemed  a  far-off  place. 

"There  were  several  families  of  us  and  we  trav- 
eled on  without  much  difficulty  until  we  came  to 
Caldwell  county,  Missouri.  One  day  as  we  were 
going  on  as  usual,  minding  our  own  business,  we 
were  stopped  by  a  mob  of  armed  men,  who  told  us 
if  we  went  another  step  they  would  kill  us  all.  They 
commenced  plundering,  taking  our  guns  from  our 
wagons,  which  we  had  brought,  as  we  were  going 
into  a  new  country,  and  after  thus  robbing  us  took 
us  back  five  miles,  placed  a  guard  around  us,  and 


88  HEROINES  OF 

kept  us  there  in  that  way  three  days,  and  then  let 
us  go.  We  journeyed  on  ten  miles  further,  though 
our  hearts  were  heavy  and  we  knew  not  what 
might  happen  next.  Then  we  arrived  at  a  little 
town  of  about  eight  or  ten  houses,  a  grist  and  saw 
mill  belonging  to  the  Saints.  We  stopped  there  to 
camp  for  the  night.  A  little  before  sunset  a  mob 
of  three  hundred  armed  men  came  upon  us.  Our 
brethren  halloed  for  the  women  and  children  to 
run  for  the  woods,  while  they  (the  men)  ran  into 
an  old  blacksmith  shop. 

"They  feared,  if  men,  women  and  children  were 
in  one  place,  the  mob  would  rush  upon  them  and 
kill  them  all  together.  The  mob  fired  before  the 
women  had  time  to  start  from  the  camp.  The  men 
took  off  their  hats  and  swung  them  and  cried  lor 
quarter,  until  they  were  shot  down;  the  mob  paid 
no  attention  to  their  entreaties,  but  fired  alter- 
nately. I  took  my  little  girls  (my  boys  I  could  not 
find)  and  ran  for  the  woods.  The  mob  encircled 
us  on  all  sides,  excepting  the  bank  of  the  creek,  so 
I  ran  down  the  bank  and  crossed  the  mill  pond  on 
a  plank,  ran  up  the  hill  on  the  other  side  into  the 
bushes;  and  the  bullets  whistled  by  me  like  hail- 
stones, and  cut  down  the  bushes  on  all  sides  of  me. 
One  girl  was  wounded  by  my  side,  and  she  fell 
over  a  log;  her  clothes  happened  to  hang  over 
the  log  in  sight  of  the  mob,  and  they  fired  at 
them,  supposing  that  it  was  her  body,  and  after  all 
was  still  our  people  cut  out  of  that  log  twenty  bullets. 

"When  the  mob  had  done  firing  they  began  to 
howl,  and  one  would  have  thought  a  horde  of 


"MORMONDOM."  89 

demons  had  escaped  from  the  lower  regions. 
They  plundered  our  goods,  what  we  had  left,  they 
took  possession  of  our  horses  and  wagons,  and 
drove  away,  howling  like  so  many  demons.  After 
they  had  gone  I  came  down  to  behold  the  awful 
scene  of  slaughter,  and,  oh!  what  a  horrible  sight! 
My  husband  and  one  of  my  sons,  ten  years  old, 
lay  lifeless  upon  the  ground,  and  another  son,  six 
years  old,  wounded  and  bleeding,  his  hip  all  shot  to 
pieces;  and  the  ground  all  around  was  covered  with 
the  dead  and  dying.  Three  little  boys  had  crept 
under  the  blacksmith's  bellows;  one  of  them  re- 
ceived three  wounds;  he  lived  three  weeks,  suffer- 
ing all.  the  time  incessantly,  and  at  last  died.  He 
was  not  mine,  the  other  two  were  mine.  One  of 
whom  had  his  brains  all  shot  out,  the  other  his  hip 
shot  to  pieces."  This  last  was  Alma  Smith,  who 
lives  at  Coalville,  and  who  still  carries  the  bullets 
of  the  mob  in  his  body,  but  was  healed  by  the 
power  of  God  through  the  careful  nursing  and 
earnest  faith  of  his  mother.  "My  husband  was 
nearly  stripped  of  his  clothes  before  he  was  quite 
dead;  he  had  on  a  new  pair  of  calf-skin  boots,  and 
they  were  taken  off  him  by  one  whom  they  desig- 
nated as  Bill  Mann,  who  afterward  made  his  brags 
that  he  'pulled  a  d — d  Mormon's  boots  off  his  feet 
while  he  was  kicking.'  It  was  at  sunset  when  the 
mob  left  and  we  crawled  back  to  see  and  compre- 
hend the  extent  of  our  misery.  The  very  dogs 
seemed  filled  with  rage,  howling  over  their  dead 
masters,  and  the  cattle  caught  the  scent  of  inno- 
cent blood,  and  bellowed.  A  dozen  helpless  widows 


90  HEROINES  OF 


grieving  for  the  loss  of  their  husbands,  and  thirty 
or  forty  orphaned  or  fatherless  children  were 
screaming  and  crying  for  their  fathers,  who  lay 
cold  and  insensible  around  them.  The  groans  of 
the  wounded  and  dying  rent  the  air.  All  this 
combined  was  enough  to  melt  the  heart  of  any- 
thing but  a  Missouri  mobocrat.  There  were  fifteen 
killed  and  ten  wounded,  two  of  whom  died  the 
next  day." 

"As  I  returned  from  the  woods,  where  I  had  fled 
for  safety,  to  the  scene  of  slaughter,  I  found  the 
sister  who  started  with  me  lying  in  a  pool  of  blood. 
She  had  fainted,  but  was  only  shot  through  the 
hand.  Further  on  was  Father  McBride,  an  aged, 
white-haired  revolutionary  soldier;  his  murderer 
had  literally  cut  him  to  pieces  with  an  old  corn- 
cutter.  His  hands  had  been  split  down  when  he 
raised  them  in  supplication  for  mercy.  Then  one 
of  the  mob  cleft  open  his  head  with  the  same 
weapon,  and  the  veteran  who  had  fought  for  the 
freedom  of  his  country  in  the  glorious  days  of  the 
past,  was  numbered  with  the  martyrs.  My  eldest 
son,  Willard,  took  my  wounded  boy  upon  his  back 
and  bore  him  to  our  tent.  The  entire  hip  bone, 
joint  and  all  were  shot  away.  We  laid  little  Alma 
upon  our  bed  and  examined  the  wound.  I  was 
among  the  dead  and  dying;  I  knew  not  what  to 
do.  I  was  there  all  that  long  dreadful  night  with 
my  dead  and  my  wounded,  and  none  but  God  as 
physician  and  help.  I  knew  not  but  at  any  mo- 
ment the  mob  might  return  to  complete  their 
dreadful  work.  In  the  extremity  of  my  agony  I 


"MORMONDOM."  91 

cried  unto  the  Lord,  '0,  Thou  who  hearest  the 
prayers  of  the  widow  and  fatherless,  what  shall  I 
do?  Thou  knowest  my  inexperience,  Thou  seest 
my  poor,  wounded  boy,  what  shall  I  do?  Heavenly 
Father,  direct  me ! '  And  I  was  directed  as  if  by 
a  voice  speaking  to  me.  Our  fire  was  smouldering; 
we  had  been  burning  the  shaggy  bark  of  hickory 
logs.  The  voice  told  me  to  take  those  ashes  and 
make  a  solution,  then  saturate  a  cloth  with  it  and 
put  it  right  into  the  wound.  It  was  painful,  but 
my  little  boy  was  too  near  dead  to  heed  the  pain 
much.  Again  and  again  I  saturated  the  cloth  and 
put  it  into  the  hole  from  which  the  hip  joint  had 
been  plowed  out,  and  each  time  mashed  flesh  and 
splinters  of  bone  came  away  with  the  cloth,  and 
the  wound  became  white  and  clean.  I  had  obeyed 
the  voice  that  directed  me,  and  having  done  this, 
prayed  again  to  the  Lord  to  be  instructed  further ; 
and  was  answered  as  distinctly  as  though  a  physi- 
cian had  been  standing  by  speaking  to  me.  A  slip- 
pery elm  tree  was  near  by,  and  I  was  told  to  make 
a  poultice  of  the  roots  of  the  slippery  elm  and  fill 
the  wound  with  it.  My  boy  Willard  procured  the 
slippery  elm  from  the  roots  of  the  tree;  I  made  the 
poultice  and  applied  it.  The  wound  was  so  large 
it  took  a  quarter  of  a  yard  of  linen  to  cover  it. 
After. I  had  properly  dressed  the  wound,  I  found 
vent  to  my  feelings  in  tears  for  the  first  time,  and 
resigned  myself  to  the  anguish  of  the  hour.  All 
through  the  night  I  heard  the  groans  of  the  suf- 
ferers, and  once  in  the  dark  we  groped  our  way 
over  the  heap  of  dead  in  the  blacksmith  shop,  to 


92  HEROINES  OF 

try  to  soothe  the  wants  of  those  who  had  been 
mortally  wounded,  and  who  lay  so  helpless  among 
the  slain. 

"Next  morning  Brother  Joseph  Young  came 
to  the  scene  of  bloodshed  and  massacre.  'What 
shall  be  done  with  the -dead?'  he  asked.  There 
was  no  time  to  bury  them,  the  mob  was  coming 
on  us;  there  were  no  men  left  to  dig  the  graves. 
'Do  anything,  Brother  Joseph/  I  said,  'except  to 
leave  their  bodies  to  the  fiends  who  have  killed 
them.'  Close  by  was  a  deep,  dry  well.  Into  this 
the  bodies  were  hurried,  sixteen  or  seventeen  in 
number.  No  burial  service,  no  customary  rites 
could  be  performed.  All  were  thrown  into 
the  well  except  my  murdered  boy,  Sardius.  When 
Brother  Young  was  assisting  to  carry  him  on  a 
board  to  the  well,  he  laid  down  the  corpse  and 
declared  he  could  not  throw  that  boy  into  the  hor- 
rible, dark,  cold  grave.  He  could  not  perform 
the  last  office  for  one  so  young  and  inter- 
esting, who  had  been  so  foully  murdered,  and  so 
my  martyred  son  was  left  unburied.  'Oh,  they 
have  left  my  Sardius  unburied  in  the  sun/  I  cried, 
and  ran  and  covered  his  body  with  a  sheet.  He 
lay  there  until  the  next  day,  and  then  I,  his  own 
mother,  horrible  to  relate,  assisted  by  his  elder 
brother,  Willard,  went  back  and  threw  him  into 
this  rude  vault  with  the  others,  and  covered  them 
as  well  as  we  could  with  straw  and  earth. 

"After  disposing  of  the  dead  the  best  that  we 
could,  we  commended  their  bodies  to  God  and  felt 
that  He  would  take  care  of  them,  and  of  those 


"MORMONDOM."  93 

whose  lives  were  spared.  I  had  plenty  to  do  to  take 
care  of  my  little  orphaned  children,  and  could  not 
stop  to  think  or  dwell  upon  the  awful  occurrence. 
My  poor,  wounded  boy  demanded  constant  care, 
and  for  three  months  I  never  left  him  night  or  day. 
The  next  day  the  mob  came  back  and  told  us  we 
must  leave  the  State,  or  they  would  kill  us  all.  It 
was  cold  weather;  they  had  taken  away  our  horses 
and  robbed  us  of  our  clothing;  the  men  who  had 
survived  the  massacre  were  wounded;  our  people 
in  other  parts  of  the  State  were  passing  through 
similar  persecutions,  and  we  knew  not  what  to 
do. 

<kl  told  them  they  might  kill  me  and  my  chil- 
dren in  welcome.  They  sent  to  us  messages  from 
time  to  time,  that  if  we  did  not  leave  the  State 
they  would  come  and  make  a  breakfast  of  us.  We 
sisters  used  to  have  little  prayer  meetings,  and  we 
had  mighty  faith ;  the  power  of  God  was  mani- 
fested in  the  healing  of  the  sick  and  wounded. 
The  mob  told  us  we  must  stop  these  meetings,  if 
we  did  not  they  would  kill  every  man,  woman  and 
child.  We  were  quiet  and  did  not  trouble  anyone. 
We  got  our  own  wood,  we  did  our  own  milling, 
but  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts  to  be  at  peace,  they 
would  not  allow  us  to  remain  in  the  State  of  Mis- 
souri. I  arranged  everything,  fixed  up  my  poor, 
wounded  boy,  and  on  the  first  day  of  February 
started,-  without  any  money,  on  my  journey  towards 
the  State  of  Illinois;  I  drove  my  own  team  and 
slept  out  of  doors.  I  had  four  small  children,  and 
we  suffered  much  from  cold,  hunger  and  fatigue. 


94  HEROINES  OF 


"I  once  asked  one  of  the  mob  what  they  intended 
when  they  came  upon  our  camp;  he  answered  they 
intended  to  'kill  everything  that  breathed.'  I  felt 
the  loss  of  my  husband  greatly,  but  rejoiced  that 
he  died  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  truth.  He  went 
full  of  faith  and  in  hope  of  a  glorious  resurrection. 
As  for  myself  I  had  unshaken  confidence  in  God 
through  it  all. 

"In  the  year  1839  I  married  again,  to  a  man 
bearing  the  same  name  as  my  deceased  husband 
(Warren  Smith),  though  they  were  not  in  the  least 
related.  He  was  also  a  blacksmith  and  our  cir- 
cumstances were  prosperous.  By  this  marriage  I 
had  three  children,  Amanda  Malvina,  who  died  in 
Nauvoo;  also  Warren  Barnes  and  Sarah  Marinda, 
who  are  still  living,  the  former  at  American  Fork 
and  is  counselor  to  the  Bishop,  the  latter  at  Hyde 
Park. 

"I  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  seeing  the  Temple 
finished,  and  of  receiving  therein  the  blessing  of 
holy  ordinances.  Willard,  my  first-born  son,  also 
had  his  endowments  in  that  Temple,  and  came  out 
among  the  first  who  left  there;  was  one  of  the 
Mormon  Battalion,  who  were  called  to  go  to  Mexico 
while  we  were  en  route  to  find  a  resting  place  for 
the  Saints.  Willard  is  now,  and  has  been  for 
several  years  past,  President  of  Morgan  Stake." 

During  the  time  they  lived  in  Nauvoo,  President 
Joseph  organized  a  Relief  Society.  Sister  Smith 
became  a  member  of  its  first  organization  and 
greatly  rejoiced  in  the  benevolent  work;  much 
good  was  accomplished  by  it. 


"MORMONDOM."  95 

In  July,  1847,  they  started  from  Nauvoo  intending 
to  go  with  the  Saints  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but 
for  the  want  of  sufficient  means  for  so  long  a  jour- 
ney they  were  compelled  to  stop  in  Iowa.  They  re- 
mained until  the  year  1850,  when  they  took  up  their 
line  of  march  for  Salt  Lake  City,  arriving  on  the 
18th  of  September,  safe  and  well.  Shortly  after 
arriving  in  this  city,  her  husband,  who  had 
been  for  some  time  dilatory  in  his  duties,  aposta- 
tized from  the  faith,  and  they  separated.  She  took 
the  children  with  her  and  provided  for  herself. 

On  the  24th  of  January,  1854,  a  number  of  la- 
dies met  together  to  consider  the  importance  of 
organizing  a  society  for  the  purpose  of  making 
clothes  for  the  Indians  and  other  charitable  work, 
which  was  properly  organized  Feb.  9th.  Sister 
Smith  was  one  of  the  officers  of  the  society,  which 
resulted  in  much  temporal  good  being  accom- 
plished. 

In  consequence  of  the  many  hardships  she  en- 
dured through  the  persecutions  in  Missouri  which 
were  heaped  upon  her  and  her  family  by  a  relent- 
less mob,  her  health  was  undermined,  and  as  years 
increased,  infirmities  settled  upon  her  which  ren- 
dered her  unable  to  retain  the  position  she  had 
held  in  the  Relief  Society.  She  was  honorably 
released  and  will  ever  be  remembered  by  the 
Bishop  and  his  counselors  and  the  members  of  the 
Ward  for  her  benevolence  and  self-denial  in  min- 
istering to  the  unfortunate. 

Sister  Smith  has  much  to  rejoice  over  even  in 
her  present  affliction,  for  she  has  raised  her  family 


96  HER  01NES  OF  '  'MORMOND  OM. ' ' 

in  the  principles  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  and  the 
fear  of  God,  and  they  remain  true  and  steadfast  to 
the  faith  of  the  latter-day  work.  A  good  woman, 
who  has  reared  to  manhood  and  womanhood  a 
large  family  almost  without  a  father's  help,  is  cer- 
tainly worthy  of  commendation  and  must  have 
great  satisfaction  in  her  life  and  labor.  She  has 
been  for  more  than  fifty  years  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints. 

There  are  very  few  now  living  who  have  a  record 
of  more  than  half  a  century  in  the  Church.  Sister 
Smith  has  endeared  herself  to  a  very  large  number 
of  the  Latter-day  Saints,  who  are  ever  ready  to  do 
her  honor  for  her  faith,  integrity  and  the  many 
estimable  qualities  which  have  beautified  and 
adorned  her  life. 

Her  testimony  of  the  massacre  at  Haun's  mill, 
in  Missouri,  is  that  of  an  eye  witness  and  partici- 
pator. Indeed  she  might  with  all  propriety  be 
termed  the  heroine  of  that  fearful  tragedy,  for  her 
sublimity  of  courage  surpassed  that  of  ordinary 
mortals.  God  was  with  her  in  His  power  in  her 
hour  of  severe  trouble  and  she  was  indeed  a  host 
in  herself.  In  conclusion  we  would  say,  may 
heaven's  choicest  blessings  rest  upon  her  the  re- 
mainder of  her  days  here  upon  the  earth,  and  her 
heart  be  filled  with  joy  and  peace  continually  and 
may  she  continue  to  bear  a  faithful  testimony  to  the 
truth,  and  live  until  she  has  accomplished  all 
she  has  ever  anticipated  for  the  living  and  the 
dead.  E.  B.  W. 


